A Universe of Change: by Candlelight Defiance
by AlbertG
Summary: Book IV. The Enterprise-D and the Enterprise-C started a chain of events that would propel both ships into a universe they never imagined. Now three years later, Earth Alliance, the Minbari, the Centauri and everyone else are embroiled in a war they never imagined, fighting against insane First Ones from some Thirdspace!
1. Chapter 1

Title: A UNIVERSE OF CHANGE – By Candlelight Defiance Author: Albert Green Jr.

Associate author RenS (Renato): on this site- please read

Associate author: Ash's Boomstick (Bob Regent): on this site-please read

Contact: g3607273 yahoo-dot-com

Primary Category: Crossover: Star Trek-TNG/ Babylon Five

NOTICE: THIS STORY MAY BE DISTRIBUTED FREE OF CHARGE BUT MUST NOT BE SOLD OR EXCHANGED FOR FINANCIAL RETURN IN ANY FORM.

-COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER NOTICE-

"Star Trek", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", and "Star Trek: Enterprise" and all related Star Trek related material, it's characters and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television shows and movies, may be or are registered trademarks of, and may be or are copyrighted by Paramount Studios and whatever Corporation it may or may not be owned by.

"Babylon Five", it's characters, certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television show, past present of near future, may be or are registered trademarks of, Babylon 5, characters, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of Time Warner Entertainment Co., LP.

"Forbidden Planet", its characters, certain technological devices and/or references to such from the movie, is the property of Metro Golden Mayer.

"Battlestar Galactica", its characters, and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television show, past present of near future, may be or are registered trademarks of, and may be or are copyrighted by the Universal Studios Corporation and any new owners in the future. By the way, this is NOT BSG2003. This is old school here. (Also this is only discussed as a reference to other stories of mine mentioned in this series.

"Stargate and Stargate SG-1", its characters, certain technological devices and/or references to such from the movie characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Gekko Productions Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and the SYFYCHANNEL. We're talking 'Stargate' here and not 'Stargate-SG-1 for the most part. If I live long enough to finish this everything will become clear.

None of the Studios are responsible for the content of this story. Other names and additional characters are the creation of the author who is solely responsible for them as such.

Additional characters are the creation of the author who is solely responsible for them as such. Neither Studio is responsible for the content of this story.

THIS STATEMENT MUST ACCOMPANY THE STORY 'A UNIVERSE OF CHANGE' IF DISTRIBUTED. THIS STORY IS FREE OF CHARGE AND MAY NOT BE SOLD OR EXCHANGED FOR FINANCIAL RETURN IN ANY FORM. THIS DEDICATION MUST ACCOMPANY ANY DISTRUBUTION OF THIS STORY.

Dedication:

First of all, to my wife who allowed me to hide in our basement and write in relative peace, despite family loss and illness, I thank her again I thank Andrew Caruthers for his excellent writing style. And I thank Renato and Bob profusely for their contributions to this story and all of their comments and suggestions without whom this story would have never as entertaining as I pray it will be to all who read it. There are a few others to whom I give thanks to and will mention them as the story progresses.

Albert Green Jr. (Skeet)

_To everyone who has followed AUOC for all of these years, I thank you and honor all of you for your loyalty and your comment, criticisms, and corrections. What you are about to read is a summation of this series so far. To those who are new and know what's going on, you can skip this section. For those who are coming and reading this for the first time, I encourage you to read this portion or you'll be confused as to what's going on here. I will try to make it as painless as possible but if you are truly interested then I also encourage you to read the entire series before you start here. All of these stories can be found on FF dot net under the author 'AlbertG'._

_The progression of this series and the other stories are as follows:_

_The AUOC series: _(1). A Universe of Change. (2). Those Who Stand. (3) Allies in Blood. (4). AUOC-By Candlelight Defiance (working).

_Related stories:_

_The Ruination series The Federation-Cylon war-and I mean old school here not the new BSG: _(1). Evolutions: book I, (2) Evolutions-Gleanings past and future, (3) The Ruination Imperative.

I decided to get crazy to explain what was happening and how the crossovers were connected even though they weren't and wrote: 'The Conversation'. This short story connected both series. Next: 'The Ruination war-Search for V'Ger' and this started to crossover into the AUOC series. It's a temp cross and was not meant to last. '_A Thin Veneer: supplements' _also crosses over for a brief period of time as well.

Before I continue, I will state that the temporal cold war will play an important in this and the related stories that interlock with this universe I am creating.

This crossover story has its basis in the universe created by the entrance of the _Enterprise-C's_ jump twenty-two years into the future [See: '_Yesterday's Enterprise'_ episode for details]. When it did that, the entire timeline changed for the crew and galaxy-in-general in which the present day _Enterprise-D_ under command by Jean-Luc Picard, was a part. The _Enterprise-D_ transformed from a ship of peace to a true Federation battleship. The Federation and Klingon Empire were at war, but the question is why? What was going on here? Why did the _'C'_ jump to the exact place where the one person in the Federation could advise Picard to reverse a timeline no one else recognized as different? Does anyone really believe that a slew of photon torpedoes could cause a rupture in time and space-and if it did what does that say about space in general?

I propose space is not that delicate.

I also propose that the _Ambassador_-class _Enterprise-C_ and the _Soyuz_-class starship USS _Bozeman_, the ship caught in the causality loop with the _Enterprise-D_ (which kept blowing up for seventeen or so days), was part of a similar, but failed experiment. Why? I suggest that both experiments were initiated by other forces to produce the same results that the _Enterprise-C_ ultimately generated. Those powers wanted major war between the Klingons and Federation with the ultimate purpose of negating the effectiveness of both governments in the distant future.

And what does that have to do with anything?

Well-

Say 'temporal cold war' and _'Enterprise_-Archer' in the same breath and we all have a clue.

Let's check out some of the altered players of the Star Trek side in this story:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, _Enterprise-D_: Commander of a _Galaxy_ class warship several times stronger (and weaker) than its temporal counterpart. And by the way, Kirk is still alive and trapped in a certain energy ribbon called the Nexus. But after consideration and three books, I decided not to add him into the mix but Captain Archer is here now.

Captain Rachel Garrett, _Enterprise-C_: Commander of a vessel of exploration, _Ambassador_ Class. Of Rachel herself, very little is known other than the short introduction in the TV show. But the fact that a woman is in command of a Federation vessel called _Enterprise_ makes her someone not to contend with.

Commander Benjamin Sisko, third in command of the _Enterprise-C_. What can I say? He is _'The Sisko'_, one of the more underused and under-acknowledged Captains of Star Trek fame. We can't even find _DS9_ on TV, and being semi-polite, I will not speculate on this now. The Prophets miss him and will make that fact known – once more. Their wish is for him to merge with his original counterpart. Due to the change in the timeline, _DS9_ does not exist and instead he became an Officer specializing in 'ground-pounding', an Assault Commander, dealing with Klingons hand-to-hand as necessary. His wife and child are gone. He is alone, but reflective. He and his people were simply being ferried by the _Enterprise-D _to the front lines. His life will have a major impact on the lives he touches. He has not been in as much as I like but watch out! He's a major player here.

Guinan: Bartender, Listener, wise woman, and adversary of the legendary Q.

_Babylon Five_ is literally a different universe altogether which is now being touched by those mentioned above. Six minutes (the civil war Earthforce attack on _Babylon Five_ by Clark's people in the first story with the _Enterprises_ interfering) made a pronounced difference in how things will shape up there. But in the end, as Delenn would probably say, 'just because we are in the universe trying to shape it into our image, does not mean that it, in any fashion, chooses to be shaped. It chooses the shape it wants. Pray that it does not notice us.'

One more thing: The Thirdspace aliens (I named them the Yonji Sinhindrea) have _ALWAYS _been the major antagonists here. Only two people know how I named them his by the way. Everything in 'A Universe of Change, Those Who Stand', 'Allies in Blood' and this Book have reflected this. They are considered ancient FIRST ONES, even older than the Vorlons. Their technology is almost unbelievable and we've only seen their merest touch of what they were capable of. This is what I plan to do, expand on that technology and the viciousness of these aliens who have no equivalent to our understanding of morals, ethic or compassion. It was made clear in the 'Third Space' movie that if they hadn't been stopped at _Babylon Five_, they would have overrun everything. What attacked _B5_ was the equivalent of our Coast Guard patrols. The only reason they were stopped was because of the choke point at the gate. If the larger destroyers had gotten through and into normal space they would not have been stopped by the Alliance forces and that galaxy would have burned. I have heard that some readers dislike the so-called 'uber' aliens storyline. Sorry. I've already weakened Fedtech in ATV and here. But I have to follow the canon TS aliens as we saw in the movie.

Now, this story as were the previous ones are mainly told from the ST perspective; although the_ B5_ – and others will not be slighted in any way. POV is important. Have fun.

AG

Summary: When the _Enterprise-D_ decided to enter the temporal distortion along with the _Enterprise-C_ to ensure the restoration of the timeline, that action set forth a chain of events that would propel both ships into a universe they never imagined. Now three years later, Earth Alliance, The Minbari, the Centauri and everyone else are embroiled in a war they never imagined, fighting against extinction.

_A Universe of Change_

_By Candlelight-Defiance_

"_The future is always changing. We create the future with our words, our deeds, and our beliefs."_

—Lady Ladira, _Babylon Five_: "Signs and Portents"

"_Never trust one that poses as a Being of Light to use the third edge. For in their pride, they tend to lie."_

—New Minbari saying when speaking of the 'three-edged sword'

"_You must never forget that the Sinhindrea are genetically insane. They're built that way. We mean nothing to them except as a source of raw material and food for them. Compared to them, the Borg are the bastion of stability." _

—Guinan, Federation ambassador to _Babylon Five_

"_Guinan, exactly who are the Borg?"_

—Captain Jean Luc Picard, Federation Battleship _Enterprise_

_The planet Z'Ha'Dum:_

The planet called Z'Ha'Dum by some, is the place of darkness. It is an old world, so old that no one knows its true name, save one. It is a planet that has been inhabited by several species in succession for the last million years. It was thought by many of the younger races that the Shadows were the original inhabitants.

But they would have been wrong.

There were many species who loved the darkness of this planet and to them this was a world not to be shunned but it was a place of refuge. The planet was more than just simply a place void of sunlight. There seemed to be a darkness inherent in the very foundation of the creation of this world. It was as if the corruption here was created solely for the purpose of existing on Z'Ha'Dum. What that purpose was no one knew but it called out to those who craved the darkness and they found comfort in its embrace and made it their home. The Usbin lived there for more than a hundred thousand years before they left. The multi-limbed Gurminsu lived there almost three hundred thousand years before they departed. Few people knew who they were; even fewer knew why they left the planet, never to return. What was known was that to live in such a place, even becoming one with the darkness there, one could only wither and die if they remained too long, and so they left.

Then the ones called the Shadows found it and made it their home. They were one of the youngest of the First Ones but still older than the Vorlons. They built their cities there while being became trapped in a philosophical battle with the Vorlons. So it was that their heated debate evolved into a real war with the young ones being used as pawns. Entire species were wiped out in the war between the Vorlons and Shadows that happened a thousand years ago; and in truth, the conflict between the two of them may have been repeated numerous times. None of the younger races could know just how many times the cycle had repeated itself and Vorlons were never a forthcoming species at the best of times.

There were various beliefs about the cause of the war in the most popular name was the war against darkness. But the elders of the galaxy understood the true nature of the conflict and they called it the War of the Two Questions. Lorien called it something else. He named it the War of the Circle and he despaired. The Vorlons wouldn't listen to him, so he waited until they would. Because of his despair he waited in the worst place imaginable; a place of darkness; a place of shadow.

The aliens known as the Shadows hadn't listened and billions died a thousand years ago. The Shadows lost but they never surrendered. Instead, they decided to hibernate, to come back and try again because the question 'what do you want?' was more important than the billions of lives that have been lost before and billions of lives that they planned to extinguish again. And the First of the First ones simply waited for both the Shadows and Vorlons to come to their senses and end this useless conflict.

It was not to be.

Something happened something that no one expected. Strangers from another universe arrived. The gate had been opened, not at its appointed time but before, and everything changed. That which was contained was free again and the souls of this universe screamed in terror.

The Shadows were no more. The Vorlons were no more. They had both fled for the rim, leaving their charges and the rest of the young races to fend for themselves. They believed themselves to be safe there and the consequence of their actions ultimately of little importance to the overall scheme of things. The young races left behind would die and in doing so provide the Vorlons and Shadows valuable time to prepare their defenses. After all, what was a few hundred thousand years to such as them?

It was beliefs such as that that had allowed the Sinhindrea to survive such a long time. Always, the more powerful, elder races would fight against the Sinhindrea and break themselves against the incoming swirl and when they died, the younger ones were too weak to resist. In the other universe, thousands of worlds have been destroyed and thousands more were being destroyed due of the same mistakes being made over and over again.

That was their version of a circle, one of life and death.

'_Here will be no different' _Doxa'az, the First of Leaders of the race called the Sinhindrea, thought. The Shadows had fled from their adopted home and in their place her people had come.

Although satisfied with what her people were, she understood that there was always a need for improvement. The constant struggles for survival and made that evidently clear to her and all of her kind.

They were a rigorous species able to survive in a variety of environments ranging from oxygen to methane to ammonia-based atmospheres. They could even survive the rigors space for prolonged periods of time. They were a primarily water breeding species that originated in an oxygen-based planet. But they had evolved into cybernetic composites now and all of them were telepathic, which they used as their primary form of communication with one another even though they did exhibit a wide vocal range to be used as necessary. Their armored bodies were bodies covered with chromatophores, light-producing organelles and cells, also used for communication between others of their kind.

Many of the lesser species that had actually seen her kind and lived to tell about it, thought that they were two different species comprising of the Sinhindrea when in fact there was only one. The younger nymphs, the immature of her kind were physically different than the mature forms. It had appendages, three sets of them and a mouth-like structure not unlike the Terran squid. There were two sets of large liquid-gray eyes near the top of its scaled head. The armored skin of the nymph had the ability of blending into its surrounding, giving it an effective form of camouflage, but the young ones emitted a lot of heat.

The matured one such as herself, were by definition much larger and appeared to look more like a heavily armored Terran crab. But they also were eerily similar to a monstrous spider-like tick with incredibly powerful natural and cybernetic appendages. She could understand why so many had assumed that there was more than one species of Sinhindrea when in fact there was only one because of those differences. Only the eyes, the armor-like scales and the presence of chromatophores were the same between the immature and mature forms.

It was also understandable that many of the species that they came across believed that their space-borne ships were organic in nature when in truth they were not. The ships were the remains of living creatures processed for their tough exoskeletons. The animals did possess some organic components, however the internal systems were strictly non-organic as the creatures were grown so that their bodies could be used as space-capable hulls. When matured, the creatures were slaughtered, processed, and used as efficient fighters and larger defenders of the people. The gel-filled cockpit had almost no instrumentation other than a series of 'spiral-like holes' for the pilot's implants. Those 'holes' were interface points for the pilot and only cybernetic implants of the Sinhindrea could be used to pilot the ship.

Sinhindrea dominated – not for the sake of conquest, but for survival against anything that might rise up against them. To them conquest was equated with survival. They were hard-wired to destroy any threat. Her people had an inborn, self-destructive instinct to kill anything not their own. All life other than their own was considered either a potential threat or a food source and as advanced as they were they would never change. By the definition of thousands and thousands of sentient beings, her people were monsters who considered everything else as prey or a threat to be eliminated.

However, the danger that had caused her concern since the time they had arrived in this universe was now manifesting itself. Doxa'az, to her hatred, discovered that she too was afraid. Her people have been cut off from most of their nearly boundless resources, the gate destroyed. That have been a great lost, one that would take time to recover from.

It had been a waste that the Supreme elder, the oldest survivor of them all, a custodian of the First Order, had been lost when the gate was destroyed. She had been chosen to be a guardian to protect the gate from destruction by outside forces, in this case the Vorlons and their puppets. Guardians were designed not to require substance. Their lifespans were altered so that they were able to life extended periods of time. Guardian cybernetics were greatly enhanced. Only the eldest of their species were strong enough to survive the complex and decades-long process. But she had failed in her sacred duty and now the Sinhindrea were trapped in this universe, at least for the time being. Although it was possible to build another doorway it would take too much time, and the critical elements materials needed were not easily available in this region of space according to their scans. The danger that caused so much concern to her people was now manifesting itself. With the gate destroyed, they were alone. But, it was satisfying that two of the more powerful races in that area of space had been removed by death or fear. Some had been killed and the others fled to calmer waters, or so they believed. However the result had been the same as they had left the younger and less capable races to try to defend themselves. It was perfect…

…But nothing was ever perfect.

Those same young races should have fallen to defeat quickly, but they were unacceptably resilient. The forces against them should have prevailed easily but there have been – defeats, unacceptable ones. The Sinhindrea hadn't expected to be crushed upon contact with the lesser ones. Doxa'az had allocated a minimal number of ships to complete the assigned mission and now they had been found wanting. Resources in the area had failed their assignments and extra support was more than five months distant. Now they would be forced to send the heavy ships to finish what her forces had failed, so far, to complete.

Floating lazily in the fluid-filled top spire of the largest of the miles high buildings in the dark city, she recounted those defeats with increasing hostility and anger which was acknowledged and reflected amongst all of her people. All of them were telepathic and what was known to one, all of them knew. Privacy was a barely understood concept among themselves. With a quiet acknowledgment, she understood why the Vorlon creatures had chosen these areas of space to dwell upon and to spread their influence in. Those sectors were literally packed with life. However, when the most interesting fact was that they were not one, but two worlds considered perfect Primes. Those extremely rare worlds represented her people's concept of environmental and ecological perfection for reproduction and colonization, and were also perfect as staging grounds for her species to grow strong the spread out among the stars. Sub-Prime worlds were within easy reach. It was a veritable treasure. They could not ask for a better area to thrive.

Z'Ha'Dum, the world on which they now dwelled upon was barely adequate and too far away from anything of consequence. Some of the life bearing worlds surrounding the one they were presently on has some conveniences but again they were all too far away from where the Sinhindrea needed to be with limited resources they had available. At this distance, the forces engaging the young food races were on their own and resistance to their will had been more fierce than anticipated. Important military assets had been lost in battles against the creatures. Those same forces required re-enforcements in which the closest were six months away and that was the deciding factor that forced the elders to prepare for the great migration of all of their assets to the Prime sector.

Three worlds had been scouted and analyzed.

The Centauri home world was close to perfect for Sinhindrea purposes. But there were a few criteria that the world had not met so had been rejected as a Prime. As a sub-Prime world, it was more than acceptable and it was near the known, but-not-yet-discovered transit point that would allow her people dimensional travel without the use of gates. Therefore it was a critical world that needed to fall into Sinhindrea possession. They needed that doorway, craved it like some hungry animal.

The next world that was acknowledged as a Prime was the planet called Earth, the home of the now much hated Human things. The planet had been rejected immediately as the Shadows had poisoned it with their techno – organic plague designed specifically to destroy her people. That was a waste but that world was designated to be destroyed – and it had not been as of yet. The ships sent against it did not survive to complete the mission, something surprising considering the technological level of the creatures that inhabited the planet. But she also knew that the Human things from her dimension had prevented the world's destruction. That situation would have to be rectified. The threat of the survival of that virus was too much of a threat and the Human things needed to be eliminated before the technology spread and provided a means of exterminating her fledging colony. And that left one planet in that region of space, one that was most desired, the one that they intended to have no matter the consequences. The same planet was situated in the middle of the greatest life bearing sector of that portion of the galaxy. The planet needed to be taken as intact as possible with the resources they had available there. It had to be taken and kept. The securing of that world had already began, and the natives of hat world were being belligerent. Doxa'az and the Lords of Power issued a telepathic call powerful enough to span half the galaxy … abandon all actions and secure the 'prime world'.

Everywhere in that region of space the Sinhindrea abandoned their targets and headed to the Prime world. The assault against Centauri Prime suddenly stopped although, the securing of that world hadn't been completely abandoned by the departing fleet...

It would become the Sinhindrea capital of this galaxy and thousands and thousands of worlds would fear its name. The things living there were already under Sinhindrea dominion.

The things on the planet they called Minbar just didn't know it yet.

_Minbar: Rishio-Lan Province:_

_July 14, 2263_

Shai Tahnieu, Commander of the Thyion Land regiment, ordered to protect and secure Rishio-Lan, still felt that he was in some sort of nightmarish dream. Two thousand warriors along with armored and air support were waiting at his command to strike and the sight of all this had done little to sway his heart that none of this was real. Four divisions of armor would start arriving within the hours along with twenty thousand warriors prepared to make a stand.

Like most Minbari, it was almost impossible for him to accept that his home world could possibly fall under attack by invaders from beyond. The Minbari were the ones who stride the stars, nearly invincible in their crystalline warships as compared to the other lesser races, who hid themselves away in respect and yes, fear, when the Minbari ships came their way. It is said that among the Minbari one leads but the rest move as one. They were at their best when they moved together as they were about to do now. His people were united now in a way that even the Minbari War of Retribution against Earth had failed to achieve. But unlike that war, this conflict was being played out on Minbar itself and the Humans weren't the problem this time. Instead, it was a force of demons, _'First Ones'_ that threatened everyone, everywhere and that realization sent a shiver down his spine.

_How did one defeat First Ones, beings that were old before Minbar was young, beings that reeked of power before the Minbari had even understood the concept?_

There was a part of him decided that it 'was' a dream, one he dared not ignore; a reality that made itself plain as thousands of men and women, religious and workers, along with children and old ones carrying whatever meager possessions that they had streamed passed by in barely controlled panic. This situation was so unprecedented that many of his people didn't know what to feel. As a species the Minbari were extremely stable and resisted cultural change almost as if it were a plague. The introduction of the Humans and then those Starfleeters had threatened to upheave their entire society – although few knew the true reasons as to why their society was becoming so difficult to understand. The young ones were starting to want to see the outside worlds instead of staying home where they belonged. Due to medical advances at _Babylon_ and _Laberra_, Minbari pregnancies had increased thirty-fold. Warriors were becoming fathers and mothers and those changes alone were in many ways frightening considering the almost stagnant birthrate seen among his people. All of this started because of the Earther war, he reasoned. It was their fault that everything started to fall into the pit. He didn't want to be a witness to the loss of the good old days but apparently, the universe had other plans.

Three dozen Shriek battle tanks rumbled into position while _Falsin _and _Foltia_ armored mobile artillery units took up positions all along the fast-forming battle lines stretching four kilometers in both directions. Thousands of warriors stood ready, being heavily re-enforced as more and more air transports landed several kilometers away. Those transports quickly dropped of their supplies and equipment and picked up civilians fleeing the coming battle.

Shortly, the shrine would be in ruins, another Minbari treasure lost. He stared at the sacred temple named Laydao-Ashyne dug into the west crystalline mountains for what he believed would be the very last time. Soon it would be a causality of war and if he had the time, he'd mourn is loss. But right now, the screaming masses desperate to flee the fighting took precedence over everything. Thousands of women and children were streaming by in panic as the first Shriek battle tanks fired their ordinance at a target invisible to most eyes. Still, he couldn't help but to steal one last look at the sacred temple that had stood there as a monument to the great clan conflict between the Warrior Clan Laydao and Clan Ashyne of the crystal plains.

Shai Alyt Nan, First Commander of all land forces studied the two Humans from another reality, if one could believe that, that had helped to save Satai Delenn in the doomed _Whitestar_, Lieutenant William Ranslow and Ensign Ruth Hendricks, had asked about the significance of the temple and their words had been spoken in such reverence that he felt the need to respond accordingly. They were the first non-Minbari to see the temple and it was only fitting that he told them of its significance. Although the temperature was near freezing to William and Ruth, the cold was invigorating to him, somehow encouraging him as he quickly, but reverently told them of the temple's history, picking up what his Rii Mytarin had begun.

"Ruth and William," he said using their first names, something he believed honored them. "You're the first Humans to see this land. It's been forbidden for any out-worlder to see it." That wasn't strictly true as there were few out-worlders that had set foot on Minbar in the first place. But the Minbari guarded their privacy jealously and this place had been consecrated ground for the last thousand years. "There were two warrior clans that went to war here in these mountains more than a thousand years ago," he had told them. "Warrior Clan Laydao fought to conquer this land. Opposing them were the Ashyne, a smaller clan who claimed the land as long as anyone could remember. The Ashyne were a jealous people and were fierce protectors of their territory. They were great warriors and many other Minbari had requested their help in their own times of need and always they responded to the calls for help. But to our shame, none came to help the Ashyne when they needed it the most. Clan Laydao prevailed after two years of heavy fighting and crushed the Ashyne at the last battle in that fortress over there." He pointed to the sanctuary carved into the mountain. In that fortress every man woman and child was slaughtered.

"A few Ashyne clan members hiding outside the fortress survived the slaughter and they fled, to where, no one knows." The Minbari shook his head. There were rumors that they fled into the plains and hid there. Others said that a great light came and took them to another world, another place never to be seen again. Others said that a great earthquake swallowed the survivors. This 'event' happened more than a thousand years ago; no one knows what really happened. But the aftermath is well known by all every Minbari everywhere. The other clans had been shamed for not helping the Ashyne when it mattered. As one, the Sixteen Clans of the Northern Mountains made war against Clan Laydao. The slaughter was great and none of the Laydao lived after the fighting had stopped. However instead of claiming victory, the clans were ashamed. Too much Minbari blood had been shed during a time that those we would know as the Shadows and their minions had begun the real war. Years after the war we were still changing and with it the fortress of war was changed into a sanctuary of peace where all were welcomed. We remember what was done here. It reminds us that Minbari do not kill Minbari. It hasn't worked perfectly." He smiled wispily in spite to the seriousness of the situation. "We still have lapses and in one of those earlier lapses we rejected Valen and his family, to our everlasting shame. But many live because of what we have remembered. Two great clans fought for supremacy of this beautiful land and now a united Minbar finds itself doing the same thing once more."

"We have a positive lock," the sensors officer said quickly.

_Finally_, the Shai Alyt Nan thought. He whispered a small prayer for all of the herd animals he was consigning to their deaths. But if anyone were to survive, then he'd do what was necessary to protect his world.

"Fire!"

The first shot of one of the great Minbari conflicts of the land war had begun.

_ISN news network – Earth Alliance under siege _

_July 25, 2263 _

"_This is ISN, Interstellar Network news the galaxy's most important network, bringing you the latest news updates throughout the galaxy as they happen. I'm Terry Lynde. Tonight we have a lot of news to cover including a special report from Cynthia Torqueman. Her special 'Thirty-six Hours' presentation his evening will focus on the immediate aftermath of what is being called the Great Burn. Cynthia?"_

"_Thank you, Terry. It grim out here and the crew and I are being forced to wear respiratory and protective gear. The scent hit us a half hour before we reached this point. The air in this area…well, I can't describe the smell. It's noxious and I don't think I will ever be able to forget it. It had us scrambling to put our protective masks on. As you already know, much of the North American continent has turned into a deserted wasteland. I'm standing less than twenty kilometers from ground zero here in what used to be Oklahoma. This is the closest that anyone has been able to get since the attack. It's not the radiation that's keeping us away; there is none. But, as you are seeing as the camera pans around me, there is literally nothing here. There's no life, no trees, no mountains, not even hills. It's nothing but a flat, gray, featureless nothing. Other than my voice, there's absolutely no sound. It's so quiet that I can hear the whirling of the fans on my mobile camera as it's floating some few feet from me. Everything as far as the eye can see for hundreds and hundreds of miles is melted, fused into one lump of powdery waste. The ground is still warm after a week and as I said about twenty kilometers from here the ground is still at the temperature of boiling lava. Geological sources have informed us that that area will remain at that temperature for the next couple of months and remains a testament as to how powerful the blast was. Everyone I've spoken to is thankful that much of the energy blast was deflected by the sacrifice of that one ship, or things would have been far, far worse. Animal and plant life, as well as mountains and even rivers and large lakes, was burned away in moments by plasma weapons wielded by an enemy determined to extinguish our world. Less than two hundred survivors have been rescued out of several hundred million scattered across the affected territory. Their stories of survival at the edge will be the focus on tonight's program, 'I survived: Part Three'."_

"_Grim indeed. Thank you, Cynthia. On the home front, tens of millions of people in the North American, Mexicana, and Greater Canadian regions at the edge of the devastation are still homeless and fighting for survival against starvation and the elements as they head for safe locations that are springing up in those sites. Federal help in the form of the Earth Alliance World Disaster guard units are continuing to do their best against overwhelming odds as diseases such as dysentery are starting to take their toll. Earthforce ships are delivering food, fresh water and medical supplies to those most isolated even as people from all over the world, and our colonies have come together to support us in our time of need. However, we have very good news to report in this time despair. Proxima III and its allies have stepped in to support us with new technologies that allow the syntheses of food, water, medical supplies, and even building materials in a matter of hours. It's similar to the rumored Starfleet device called replicators which are supposedly able to produce finished goods from any forms of waste matter and energy. Already, massive amounts of supplies are being issued to those in need. Despite all of this there is much to be done but our stored supplies and these miracle technological devices developed on Proxima are giving hope to tens of millions of those that would otherwise have little to none in these desperate times. More on this fantastic technology when Robyn demonstrates one of these fantastic devices for all of us to see. Some critics believe them to be too good to be true. Tonight, we'll find out._

_In related news, there are reports that several major corporations, including Pro Zeta, Pharasol, and SynthaCorp, are trying to block the Proxima colonists using the synthesizer units from being incorporated on Earth. They are appealing to the Unified World courts, complaining of unfair practices and competition. They are also filing legal injunctions claiming that the technology used hasn't been properly tested and should be banned immediately in favor of their own approved products. "Lawsuits are inevitable," said Alecia Phillips, the CEO of Pro Zeta. "We will not stand by passively and allow Proxima to use untested and untried, alien technology on the people of Earth." _

_Despite the critical nature of Earth's resources at this time, Pro Zeta and the other mega-corporations plan to sue Proxima III's conglomerates, the Federation and anyone else who uses the new technology. Several senators and government officials have commented negatively on those corporations' crude tactics, and users of the devices from all over the world have clearly stated they have no intentions of giving up their units to please those corporations who are frightened of losing their cash cows. These units would signal the end of the stranglehold on food, water and other resources critical for our colonies' survival. Senator Shanoto Ito was quoted publically saying that this stand of theirs has all of the makings of a political debacle of epic proportions and that they were too greedy and frightened to see the handwriting on the wall. "Why should we remain under their heels when the whole world is changing? They have enough money already; back off." President Luchenko hostilely dismissed corporation overtures, stating that their priorities are skewed towards their bottom line rather than for the heath and survival of the people of Earth. ISN has repeatedly tried to contact Ms. Phillips or any of the CEOs, however so far we have been unable to reach any of them. The question is, can it be called alien technology as Humans on Proxima developed this equipment turning their colony into a virtual resort in a year's time? More on this growing debate and its ramifications later in the broadcast. _

_In news on the interstellar front, the Centauri is claiming victory against the Sinhindrea attack on their home world of Centauri Prime. The main defense force of the Centauri star fleet was decimated but they were able to prevent the Sinhindrea from taking over their world, forcing the enemy to flee against overwhelming Centauri firepower. The Centauri have not issued any other statements regarding their victory. But tensions remain extremely high as no one knows the whole story of what happened and how they managed to defeat an enemy that almost crippled Earthforce and nearly destroyed Earth. The Centauri have made serious overtures to Earth Alliance in creating a join taskforce to deal with this alien threat. So far, President Luchenko has not commented as talks are still being finalized at _Babylon Five_. Other races are reportedly very interested in joining with Earth, the Centauri and the Proxima Alliances against this menace that threatens us all. _

_In other news, the call for a universal draft has not gone unheeded as millions of men and women are signing up to serve in Earth Alliance to make up for the losses that were inflicted in the recent battles. Comments ranging from 'a need for revenge' to, 'we have to protect our home as we did against the Minbari', are the motivations for the majority of them signing up. The people of Earth are coming together in this time of need._

_However, there is also a small but growing number of people clamoring for peace talks to be initiated with the Sinhindrea. There are those who believe that Earth Alliance hasn't done enough to forestall further bloodshed. In light of the recent conflicts, the Peace Initiative for Life organization is demanding the resignation of Earth Alliance Chiefs of Staff for starting yet another war. _

_These and other stories tonight as we move into day six of what is being called 'The Great Burn.' And as a reminder, please note the numbers and locations of service centers offering medical help, social services, and security streaming at the bottom of your screen. We also have dedicated audio channels for everyone using old style radio and audio communications equipment. Contact these numbers and locations if you need assistance. Help is arriving quickly. Someone will come._

_Now, we start with the Canadian border regions at the edge of the desolation where stranded survivors are rushing to secure food, water and energy before the arctic cold front sweeping the entire Midwest area hits. Water is especially in short supply as the full impact of the Canadian-North American water conflict threatens to rears its ugly head once more. Proxima synthesizer systems are being rushed to the area to help prevent renewed fighting in the more isolated regions. For the report, we go to Cassandra Roles… _

_Babylon Five _

_July 25, 2263 _

Personal log: Susan Ivanova, Commander, Executive officer _Babylon Five_: Six _days ago, while Earth was being attacked, the Sinhindrea attacked Centauri Prime and the Centauri beat them off somehow. The official report sent to us contains a lot of obvious omissions and I suspect they didn't actually win as much as the Sinhindrea simply left for reasons of their own. Their planet, Centauri Prime has been damaged, that much we know but they're being tight-lipped. I've never seen Ambassador Mollari, I mean Prime Minister Mollari, if we can believe that, so frightened. Earth Alliance, _Babylon Five _and others will have a conference in two days on La Barre to get everything out in the open and see exactly what our alliance will come up with. The 'grand conference' here at _B5_ is over and the details are about to be hashed out. I'm sure Earth Alliance is going ask for everything including the kitchen sink, which by the way is pretty good from the Feds but we will see what they actually get. They want energy shields badly and I can't blame them especially after what's happen at home. _

_No one has officially mentioned how Earth Alliance obtained gravity and polarized plating from the stolen Star fury. It's being politically swept under the rug and the Feds don't seem overly worried about it. Those technologies, along with the tritanium ingots the Alliance is trading for has helped Earth Alliance come a long way but, we're still behind the Minbari and even the Narn when it comes to new technologies. However, everything is about to change… _

B5's_ still standing because of those new systems and the Feds are under tremendous pressure to provide something for Earth Dome. Even the Proximans have some kind of energy shield on their saucers, but their forces are very small in terms of numbers. But with the Narns, Drazi, and Klingons working together with them we'll have a powerful second line of defense, at least that's my expectation. Earth Alliance believes this, too. This is good because we need all the help we can get. The Sinhindrea are probing our defenses right now and eventually we're going to face their full force and we better be ready when they come or there'll be nothing left. What we need is time._

_I still which I knew what really happened at Centauri Prime because I believe that it's coming back to bite us somehow… _

**_The story of the Centauri – Sinhindrea war Part I_**

**_July 19, 2263 Earth Calendar_**

**_Centauri Primus Battle-cruiser Sulem_**

**_Hyperspace_**

Nanrillo studiously avoided watching the shifting and swirling red colors and false shadows of hyperspace in the tiny, very thick windows of the battle cruiser's bridge. He would have preferred to close the shutters on the windows altogether, but the plan devised by the Romulan named Sela, and approved by the Regent, and the Grand Admiral required them to see outside on a moment's notice. He looked behind himself past his executive officer, Rannando, at the back wall.

A banner hung on that wall beneath the purple and gold fan-shaped insignia of the Republic, showing five golden stars arranged in a circle on a field of blue. It was the sigil of his family, House Mareau. Normally, Nanrillo wouldn't display house colors but this was a time of Centauri pride in the defense of Home. Many of the noble houses had sent every ship they could spare to the Royal Navy for Home's defense. The combined fleet was impressive even by his standards. It still wasn't as large as the Grand Fleet but most of the fleet was still on their way towards home and the earliest of the larger squadron elements were still hours and days away. No one was prepared for such an attack so quickly. Once the enemy started to move, they got from the Courtor system to home in three days.

Some of the crew had looked askance when Nanrillo hung his house colors and he understood the reason why. House Mareau lost its seat in the Centaurum because it used a telepath to scan the mind of another Centaurum member. The telepath, Vetrello Motro, was caught and sentenced to death. In pleading for his life, he gave up Mareau as his employer. But because of Mareau's long history of service to the Republic, it was merely asked to leave the Centaurum instead of being stripped of status and lands. Now Nanrillo had a chance to redeem the virtues of House Mareau and at this moment, this chance coincided with the good of the Republic.

The communications officer looked up and said, "I'm getting a report from Centauri Command. The enemy has arrived."

Nanrillo sat in the command chair right under the Mareau banner and the sign of the Centauri Republic. He hadn't needed to be told what he already knew.

It had begun.

**_Centauri Prime, in orbit_**

Beyond the orbit of the moon Tenvo, a distortion not unlike an indistinct bubble was forming in normal space. Surrounding the bubble was a halo of bright light as hyperspace collided with normal space. The first ships to come out didn't so much erupt as much as oozed through the bubble distortion. Sinhindrea fighters looking like a fusion of organic hull with huge thrusters attached formed up in attack formation. Thirty of them were followed by an equal number of identical looking ships the size of Minbari designed _White Stars_. Twenty-five Sinhindrea destroyer class sphere ships, one kilometer long each flanked by fighters and gunships emerged next, followed by two two-kilometer long _Bane-of-life_ battleships exited the distortion. Those warships were nearly identical to the heavy cruisers differing only by the fact that each had dual spheres arranged in an axis in line with the ship's main body at the rear. The last to come out were three transports carrying colonization transformation equipment. With the presence of the transports their objectives were crystallized. Just as with Minbar, they were there to conquer not destroy the world. The ships represented enough defensive capability to take a planet and then keep it. Either way it signaled the death of home.

On board the Centauri flagship _Valerius_, Jorah Marrago, the Lord-General of the Centauri Grand Military, watched as the Sinhindrea fleet moved forward. To his relief and to his horror, the time had finally arrived when action would be demanded.

The time for action was both good and bad. As of late, he had to deal with odd behavior in the fleet gathered above Centauri Prime. Several crewmen had actually tried to deactivate weapons and engines without explanation as to why they would do such a thing. Several others suffered from unexplained nightmares. The mind-hawks in the fleet, trained telepaths who were members of the Grand Military, had speculated that the odd behavior resulted from telepathic interference by the enemy. It was the same thing that happened at _Babylon Five_ from all of the reports. One man had described it as being similar to encountering a tremor or splashes from the bow of an onrushing watercraft. On a positive note, once the majority of the compromised crew were confronted, sometimes violently, they seemed to regain some measure of control. The mind-hawks believed that the more psi-sensitive a Centauri was, the more effective the alien control appeared and that was disturbing as the mind-hawks were under lots of strain doing their job and not being seduced by the telepathic waves assaulting them all.

"Has it been confirmed?" called out Marrago to several officers manning the scanning stations.

One of them replied, "Yes, sir. There is an apparent resemblance to the drive used on the '_Kiro's Pride'_."

Marrago grunted. The new scanners based on what they learned of Federation and Romulan technology were working as advertised, though they still couldn't scan into the Sinhindrea's FTL layer more than one light-minute. Still, as compared to as little as last year, such resolution was a miracle. Unless a ship was within two hundred kilometers beacon range, it had been previously impossible to scan hyperspace. Now there was no such restriction and Centauri scientists had made significant gains in hyperspace sensor technology. One light minute was considered a miracle's worth of advanced warning these days.

When reports of the Sinhindrea vessels and the saucers of _C-57D's_ design produced at Proxima III first came to him, something about their strange FTL systems jogged a memory in him and a few of the older scientists. He had then went into the Royal Navy archives and came upon the first FTL ship ever built by the Centauri, the _Kiro's Pride_. Its FTL drive was taken from a crashed alien ship that they had found in the mountains north of Imperial City several hundred years earlier. The Shoggren crystal drive suffused a ship with a field of energized momentum, half-submerging the ship into hyperspace while still remaining in normal space but staying out of hyperspace itself. Attempts to replicate the Crystal drive in other ships all resulted in explosions until some brilliant engineer thought to project the massive energies outside the ship. Instead of the energized momentum suffusion, it created a jump point. When it was found that travel in hyperspace took a fraction of the time used by the crystal drive, the Shoggren method of FTL travel was abandoned.

It would seem that the Sinhindrea used a similar method although far more refined than the Centauri were ever able to achieve. Perhaps it'd be wise for the Royal Navy to retrieve the schematics of the Shoggren crystal drive from out of the archives for study once more. However, the ancient drive was much closer to the _C-57D's_ type though. But still, to be free of the jump gate restriction would be a boon to the Centauri. And, they'd have to change the definitions of jump space and hyperspace as they were apparently two different things. As for the present crisis, he seriously doubted they'd find a way to interfere with the Sinhindrea FTL drives with the time they had, if it were even possible. Confirming the two drives' similarity however satisfied only Marrago's curiosity. Perhaps a joint study with the Federationists at _Babylon Five_ could find a way to somehow disrupt the enemy's FTL. There wasn't time for that anymore. For the Centauri people, time had run out.

Elements of the Centauri Grand Fleet, composed of the Prime Fleet joined by squadrons of the Purple and Gold Fleets, greatly outnumbered the Sinhindrea coming to attack them. Prime Fleet had the best ships and most loyal soldiers in the Republic and was tasked with the defense of Centauri Prime itself; Purple Fleet, divided into System Fleets and Castle Formations, was responsible for the defense and patrol of the Republic and its colonies. Gold Fleet, divided into four Groups, was the attacking arm of the Republic. Also joined by elements of fleets of the Noble Houses, the Grand Fleet had at its disposal twenty-eight _Primus_-class battle cruisers, nine _Octurion_-class battleships, eight heavily armored _Balvarin_-class carrier-cruisers, twenty-six _Vorchan_ cruisers and seventy-nine _Aquila_-class destroyers. Thanks to Romulan technology, the Grand Fleet also included four Advanced _Vorchan __prototypes_ sometimes called the _Firebirds_ and sometimes the _Vorchier_-class cruisers. These ships hadn't been tested in battle as they had been rushed into service, but everyone had high hopes for the design's success.

The House ships did not sport the purple color of the Republic. Instead, they sported the colors and insignias of the Great Houses that were powerful and rich enough to field fleets of their own. There were the pair of crescent moons of House Ardo, the ducat coin profile of House Callo, the predator bird V_orchan_ silhouette of House Durnado, the four-pointed red star of House Hessius, the pair of crossed swords of House Jaddo, the blooming yellow-and-black rose of House Kodiro, the planet and pair of red eyes of House Lurshan, the red jewel and gold rays of House Mollari, the four white circling birds of House Orestes, the black pennant with flanking red and white lines of House Refa, and the clenched white-gloved fist of House Vga. Minor Houses, such as House Vintari and House Deradi, had also sent what few ships they could afford,

Usually, the noble houses would not commit ships to the Republic's military adventures unless it meant adding planets and fiefs to their own holdings. Yet, this battle would decide the fate of Centauri Prime, which was everyone's home. If it failed, then the colonies and fiefs had no prayer holding against the enemy onslaught.

Marrago was grateful to that type of patriotism, the most important one of all, the one of self-preservation. With a total of one hundred-sixty first line capital vessels at their disposal, the Centauri Grand Fleet outnumbered the eighty-seven Sinhindrea warships, but Marrago knew from reports of action with the forces of the life-destroying aliens that simple numbers would not guarantee victory. These were First Ones, like the Vorlons, and it would be insane to underestimate them in any way.

"Scurata Cassilo, status report."

Cassilo drew himself up to stand at attention, allowing the bridge's lighting to be reflected by his uniform's overtunic designed to approximate the look of the cuirass worn by Royal Guardsmen. However, he did not wear the helmet of guardsmen. He was a mind-hawk, one of the trained telepaths used by the Centauri Grand Military. By necessity, mind-hawks had rigid minds for their work in interrogation and telepathic combat. Officially, mind-hawks possessed no discernible place in the normal command structure of the military, so the highest non-commissioned rank they could hold was scurata, or sergeant as the Earthers called it.

Rarely, a mind-hawk also held the rank of centurion, as Cassilo did. Centurions were the elite troops of the Republic and by Imperial Charter, had the approximate rank and pay grade of a scurata and were expected to be autonomous soldiers capable of handling tasks on their own if needed. Alien military forces would consider them to be a form of Special Forces.

"General, the aliens are still attempting to telepathically interfere with the crew's performance and efficiency."

Confirming what he suspected, Marrago nodded in thoughtful contemplation. As far as he knew, none of the military forces of known space used telepathy in that fashion. Those Starfleeters were said to have powerful telepaths in their ranks and yet even they didn't use them offensively. To his and everyone else's chagrin, the Sinhindrea were teaching them something new. "See that you monitor the crewmen's state of mind and coordinate with the other mind-hawks of the fleet."

The Centauri watched as the Sinhindrea fighters moved into range and immediately fired balls of trailing plasma toward their defensive line. Most of the small energy balls had been intercepted by the blockade mines that the Royal Navy had scattered all around Centauri Prime in anticipation for this battle. Explosions announced the destruction of some of these mines which now began to move toward the alien armada.

The nearest blockade mines fired their twin particle beam arrays at the Sinhindrea while perimeter mines began to gravitate toward the enemy armada.

The battle has begun in earnest.

**R_oyal Palace, Imperial City, Centauri Prime_**

A battle had also begun in the residence of the Centauri Emperors.

Lady Ladira of House Kiro ran through corridor of the Royal Palace, her dress hitched up to facilitate the running. There was not a servant to be seen and the few guards she saw did nothing to stop her. Her severe face swung as she searched the corridor with her eyes. Finally, she found the door she had been looking for.

She slid to a stop, nearly banging into the closed door. Panting, she brought her breathing back under control as much as possible in the short time she allowed herself. She then pushed down the antiquated door handle and pushed the door open.

In the darkened room beyond, four women dressed entirely in Imperial white, entirely shaved, their heads completely veiled in filmy white cloth stared with wide eyes at the hard-breathing lady who'd intruded upon their privacy. They had 'seen' her coming but never had anyone of them imagined that she would private domicile. Such a thing had never, ever happened.

"Hurry! The enemy's here!" she yelled at their suddenly blank faces.

The women in white silently exchanged looks and stared back at Ladira as if they didn't know what she was talking about. But, they knew and like everyone else on Centauri Prime, they were simply afraid.

"Fire, death, pain, destruction," said Ladira, none of which helped the situation. She rushed over to a wall communication unit, activated the screen and typed in a command given her by Lady Morella. It showed a satellite image of the approaching Sinhindrea. "We must fight, or we all fall."

The Imperial telepaths looked at each other again, then clutched each other tightly. They were afraid and they had no Emperor to attend upon. Being bonded telepaths they fed on one another's fear and thus magnified the emotional turmoil each were experiencing.

Ladira huffed and set her fists upon her hips in exasperation. Morella had warned her that this might happen. The Imperial telepaths were trained from birth to obey and serve the Emperor, as well as staying completely out of court politics. That very training had stunted them, made them more, but also less than they were. Their training had forced them into a single-minded focus – to serve only one master. Only an Emperor could order them to act.

Ladira buckled under the pressure, finally giving in to the futility, the inevitability of all. So be it. It was time to realize part of her prophecy. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, turned to face the tactical-screen showing the Sinhindrea fleet, concentrated and reached out.

**_Sinhindrea- Command Ship_**

Lord Idh-yaa, She-Who-Commanded, by designation one of the Clovien hunt lords and an ancient in her own right, had been in hundreds of battles in her universe and beyond against those who would resist against the inevitable. Every battle she had participated in ended in victory for her people, not that she cared for the glory. Victory simply meant that there were fewer enemies that could oppose them. This battle, for her, would be no different. The conflict itself brought neither joy nor sorrow to her or any of her species. It was simply her responsibly to remove any threat and conquer. None of her species knew the fear in battle. It just was. They lived or died at the sufferance of existence. There was nothing before life. There was nothing after deathwards in death; only the continuation of the species mattered and that required the victory against anything else that either challenged them or interfered with their mission.

Yet, she recalled the accumulated memories of the first invasion that her people had launched into this universe. That memory had been stored in the largest neuro lobe that all Sinhindrea had, genetically passed to each generation and was impossible to ignore. It told of a time when the Vorlbp'kU opened the doorway, and her people had seduced a large number of the creatures to become their servants. When they went through the doorway, the first world to fall was the one below the gate itself. As it turned out, it was the original Vorlon home system. The war progressed with the Sinhindrea accumulating just under two hundred star systems before the sVorlbp'kU could fully mobilize their forces and effectively fight back. The enemy aquatics, with reminded Lord Idh-yaa of those creatures once found on her original home world, had brought in other things, telepathic things to fight against them and the People, realizing the magnitude of the threat facing them, responded by destroying entire worlds were those telepaths existed.

The sVorlbp'kU continued to use them regardless of the costs; that was something that the Sinhindrea could understand. The enemy wanted to win and would do anything to do so. Why the sVorlbp'kU had not destroyed the telepathic things after they were discovered in the first place was something that they didn't understand. But, reasons didn't matter. The R'eeian, the Melkotians, the Blind Syngen of Itak Four, all were abducted from their planets by the billions to be thrown against the People while the sVorlbp'kU grew their weapons of war. The mind meat died and still the enemy aquatics fought. Entire telepathic species were extinguished and because of the telepaths and the formidable Vorlon defenses, the Sins had been either wiped out or pushed back through the gate. Thousands of the Sinhindrea adapts had perished in those battles as the telepaths both sides vied for supremacy. The Sinhindrea became less than they were. For that action alone, the sVorlbp'kU were targeted as a greater threat than most other meat in that the dared resist the People so intensely.

– And, they were hated.

The Sinhindrea had been pushed out of this universe but they had never forgotten that defeat and being a patient people, they waited until this particular gate was opened once more.

Things always opened the gates to the other side.

That time, the Sinhindrea were unsuccessful. But before the last of the People were pushed back, they sent a directive to the sVorlbp'kU servants who hid and then modified the gate before the victorious ones could destroy it. There it was lost lying-in-wait for the time when it would be reopened once more. Hidden in the strangeness that was hyperspace it was safe and protected from the Vorlons who searched for it for thousands of years. However long it waited, lost and forgotten, whether it was a hundred thousand years, or a million didn't matter. The Sinhindrea knew it would be opened. It had always happened and always would because the People had made it so.

It was the Sinhindrea who made the First of Gates and with their knowledge and technology, they broke the dimensional barriers and allowed the telepathic savants to broadcast their messages of peace and the possibility of obtaining godhood to those sensitive enough and powerful enough to receive the message. It was only the powerful, technologically advanced things that could build a doorway to the other side. The message was sent though a thousand universes and of that only one percent answered the call and of that only one percent successfully built a gateway, but it was enough. The sVorlbp'kU had succeeded, allowing the People freedom from the waste they had created in their own dwelling places. Thousands and thousands of worlds died in a galaxy where life was considered precious and rare by other, lesser things. It was a way to move to new feeding grounds because despite their advances, the Sinhindrea had not learned to travel the distance between the galaxies so they had devised another method to relocate. Dimensional travel was exceedingly difficult and every single member of the people knew that some external force had continually blocked their endeavors and had limited their abilities to understand the science behind such travel. Even when they discovered others who had acquired the knowledge it was somehow denied them. This of course, confirmed to the People that an external force was responsible. When that force was found, it would be destroyed with great pleasure. No entity or entities had the right to limit the People.

Therefore, with the Sinhindrea's admittance into this universe and the discovery of transit ways, pathways that would allow the People not only able transverse long distances in space but to other universes as well without the use of gate-trap, one of their most sought-after goals, was within fruition. The Courtor system claimed by the sCenp'kU offered undeniable proof that such a pathway did exist. They had sensor evidence pointing to the exact point where the doorway was located. They had seen the enemy ship disappear into that multidimensional doorway. They lusted after their dream, the ability to travel anywhere, so the Sinhindrea did the only thing they could do, the claimed the system for their own. They claimed the whole sector as theirs and it would become the center point for the establishment of their seed and of their authority. They would find a way to open the doorway and control it no matter how long it took. The Sinhindrea were a vicious but patient people. They would commit all of their resources into developing the key that would break into the meats that called themselves the Preserver's doorway.


	2. Chapter 2

_A Universe of Chance-by Candlelight-Defiance_

_**The Centauri-Sinhindrea conflict **_

_**Part II**_

_**Sinhindrea Command Assault ship-Centauri star system:**_

Lord Idh-yaa sucked the viscous fluid of her environment into the mantle cavity of her crab-like head, and expelled it through a siphon hidden within her mass of tentacles, propelling her body to a wall. Slowing to a stop, she inserted a tentacle into a cybernetic receptacle. Though strictly unnecessary, she wished to use it to conserve her energy and look out of her _Bane-of-Life_ battleship at the home world of the sCenp'kU. Being a savant, at this distance she could just taste the minds of the protein on the planet and on their inert vessels arrayed against her. At the same time, she resisted relying too much on her telepathy; it was a weakness as well as a strength. Her people's technology was more than sufficient for the task in front of them.

For true military might, it would have been better if the Sinhindrea managed to bring a _Throne-ship_ through the doorway before it was destroyed by the meat things. More like traveling fortresses than ships, Sinhindrea Thrones were five-mile long and were shaped like stone spikes or spears. They were juggernauts. Energy spheres peppered the surface, providing unrivalled power for weapons as shields. They were the pride of the Sinhindrea extinction fleets. Few enemy meat things could stand against them.

Three Thrones were brought into this universe during the first invasion. The first one, _Baa'ul_, was destroyed by the Mind-riders in a trap in the Antares system and the pieces thrown into the Antarean sun. The second one, _Azathoth_, was destroyed in one of the largest battles of the Thirdspace war in what was now the long extinct Wazna star system. Pieces of it fell into the primeval seas of the system's fourth planet. The third one, _Mua'dor_, was caught between Vorlon and Triad forces in the middle of the Minbar System. This _Throne_ was obliterated and the pieces scattered into hyperspace to keep them from falling upon any of the system's planets. The loss of those three ships had been enormous and her people still screamed for vengeance upon the Vorlon-meat and their servants.

As with all of her people, Lord Idh-yaa greatly desired to remove the threat, which meant removing the hated Vorlon threat no matter how long it took, but she did not mourn or regret these events. Her brain wasn't designed for such concepts. She simply acknowledged that her Sinhindrea ancestors who fought at the time were deficient because they allowed themselves to be defeated by lesser things. In fact, her generation of Sinhindrea have already proven their own worthiness for survival by taking the world of Z'Ha'Dum and forcing the Vorlons to evacuate their empire.

Now, her orders from Doxa'az, the First of Leaders, were to destroy all resistance and keep the damage to the stock to a minimum as their protein would be needed when the main colony arrived to this section of the galaxy. From here, the Sinhindrea would establish a place of importance in a heavily populated region of space, and then spread and prosper. The sCenp'kU worlds would serve as feeding grounds for the younglings.

There had been many of the gravid ones that had pushed for a different target. They had argued that it may have been better to start with the sAbbapH'kU home world. It was an ocean world inhabited by aquatic food sacks, but the lesser things' great powers had to be knocked out in decapitation strikes first, just as Doxa'az ordered. Still, to taste the aquatics would have been far more nutritiously acceptable than the land-proteins meat sacs of this world. It wasn't a Prime world but it was a more than acceptable one as water worlds were considered a premium breeding ground. However logic dictated that the removal of the sCenp'Ku and acquiring their world placed their forces in a better position to protect their territory and spread out quickly as well as study the doorway. It would take a year to build a _Throne_ and all agreed that even a young Throne wouldn't be worth the resource-intense effort needed to build it at this critical juncture.

On the way to this star system, the telepathic enhancement focuser devices specially built into the _Bane-of-Life_ battleships were working overtime to soften up the target, enhancing the telepathic capabilities of the mind-hunters within the ships. They worked at such distances only due to the mysterious properties of hyperspace and the unique attributes of the things here in these sectors of space. As soon as the People came out into normal space, the devices' effect was drastically reduced. So physical weapons needed to be used to quickly overcome the targets.

The forward fighting younglings had begun shooting at the collection of sCenp'kU craft. Before Lord Idh-yaa could observe more, she felt a light brush upon her mind. Aware now, she took her tentacle out of the receptacle and siphoned herself back to her commanding place to better focus on that sensation.

_There. _

The mind-brush came again. It was so light that anyone less sensitive than Lord Idh-yaa would never feel it, but she was, as with all of the Clovien brood, a protégé and as such was a far more sensitive telepath than many of her race. Quickly, she grabbed at it and tasted the alien mind that dared touch hers.

She bared her dagger-like teeth in an expression of contempt. It was one of the sCenp'kU seeking her out. Lord Idh-yaa held the mind-brush fast and followed it to its source. It was a female. She could not physically recognize any gender difference in the lesser things and didn't care to, but the taste of the mind she encountered was feminine enough which made the thing a greater threat as females were always dominant.

A female of the lesser things sought to challenge Lord Idh-yaa, a commander of the colonization fleet! If Lord Idh-yaa was capable of utilizing humanoid emotions, she would have been amused. The female did not even warrant any sending of emotions.

She struck.

AUOC-AUOC-AUOC

In the Royal Palace, Lady Ladira grunted as she felt herself being telepathically grabbed by an ancient and powerful being. She gasped as she sensed the hatred, loathing, power and arrogance coming off the alien mind in waves. A First One had attached itself to her!

If she could interpret what she had been sent by that single strike into words, she'd say they were, 'w_e are Death Incarnate and you are nothing, less than that which crawls in the sand. You are beneath us, nothing but the dust on our path. Your life is nothing but a whisper on our breeze and your death will be nothing, a mote, quickly forgotten. But we are also your friends and protectors. Come and be with us and together we will become one.'_

_My friend? This abomination?_ Her rejection of that very idea was immediate. There was barely time to think as the creature lashed out at her with its mind. Memories flashed as they were torn from her mind and discarded.

Why had she imagined that she could do this? She clutched her head and screamed as a white hot spike of pain stabbed into her brain. Ladira summoned her strength and tried to fight back. Ladira only had time for one more thought to herself before the alien mind focused on her once again.

_Follow Morella's instructions._

The Imperial telepaths, still clutching each other, whimpered as they physically and telepathically witnessed the mind-rape of Lady Ladira. The storm raged and more memories flash-burned in the rising winds. Ladira remembered prophesying at the birth of Lord Kiro, remembered seeing Shadows come and kill Kiro, and remembered the presentation of the child Londo Mollari to Emperor Turhan at Court, remembered the manic laughter of Emperor Cartagia, remembered the meeting with and talking to Jeffrey Sinclair. Then they were gone forever.

Screaming, Ladira made an effort to push back but the power of the First One's mind was far too much for her. Feeling more of her memories being flash-burned, she labored to summon a memory without having it be burned away: Jeffrey Sinclair looking into a bowl of water with her and seeing _Babylon Five_ from space. A shuttle flies from the docking bay as the station erupts in explosions, the hull rupturing as _Babylon Five_ is eaten from the inside by a firestorm. Finally it detonates, blown into thousands of fiery fragments.

Lord Idh-yaa paused only long enough to pick up that memory. She knew that the dangerous sHp'kU station had not been destroyed. Many of her race had been killed there.

Was this an attempt at deception?

No matter.

The pause gave Ladira enough space to look at the terrified Imperial telepaths and telepathically send out, '_If we but unite, even death may die!'_

Before the Imperial telepaths could react, Ladira screamed again as Lord Idh-yaa struck yet again. The scream continued until it faded for lack of air and yet the lady continued to scream soundlessly, gasping and sobbing. Desperately, as more of her mind was ripped out, she threw a sensor feedback at the Sinhindrea mind.

Lord Idh-yaa yelped, but the surprising itch wasn't any real threat to her. She continued to rend the sCenp'kU mind to shreds.

The four Imperial telepaths watched in increasing horror as blood began to ooze from Ladira's ears, mouth, nose and eyes. She fell to her knees on the floor, then to her side and rolled on the floor, fingers, arms and legs splayed out stiffly. Blood poured from her mouth as her face contorted into a rictus of agony, biting her tongue. The stress was becoming too much for the telepathic seeress' body as bones began to fracture and blood vessels burst. A blood vessel in her brain burst, causing a cranial hemorrhage.

Ladira collapsed, convulsing violently.

Lord Idh-yaa held onto the sense of the sCenp'kU female's mind long enough to taste her death. She could feel the living essence of the female slipping out of the body, falling away. Lord Idh-yaa basked in the taste of the female's dying. The death of a meat thing was no more important to her than stepping on some land or aquatic insect, but she was careful not to have the creature's death affect her. Sinhindrea usually maintained the telepathic connection right until the very edge of death, enhancing the experience of battle out of habit. Though she was not literally eating the female protein, this was but a foretaste of the feast she'd consume on the target planet. Finally, she let go and turned her attention to the coming assault against the sCenp'kU home world's defenders.

_**Centauri Passenger-Liner Carbo**_

Lyndisty pushed a passenger aside as she made her way to the liner's cockpit. She banged on the cockpit door with a clenched fist until a peephole opened, revealing an eye of a cockpit crewman.

"Who is it?"

The young lady flashed one of her most disarming bright smiles and made her voice sound as imperious as she could, but with a carefully crafted tremble included to show nervousness. "Lyndisty, daughter of Jorah Marrago, Lord-General of the Grand Fleet."

The eye widened as it recognized the girl. "Errm…yes…what do you want?"

Lyndisty shifted on her feet, exuding the aura of a frightened insecure girl. "I am…alone. I'm scared. I just want to see my daddy."

"Your father's General Marrago, isn't he? He's busy, you know."

"Oh, I know! I just…want to look at him through your windows." Her eyes began to moisten as Lyndisty prepared to turn on the waterworks.

The eye in the door became sympathetic. It looked down as it came to a decision. The peephole closed and the door's lock unlatched. The door slid open to admit Lyndisty into the cockpit. The man standing had a hair-crest only five inches high, indicating his low status in Centauri society. Not of the peasantry, yet not of the nobility. He knocked a fist on his right chest and nodded. It was an approximation of the Royal Guardsmen's salute.

"Captain Lebo at your service."

With barely a nod to acknowledge Lebo's salute, Lyndisty stepped around the captain to stand behind a seated pilot, hiding a small triumphant smile. It was so easy to have men believe she was a weak young girl who did not pose any threat. Through the wraparound windows, she could see the tiny flashes of light that were explosions in space between the opposing fleets of the Centauri and Sinhindrea. The distance made the warships look tiny. The burning trailing masses of fire from the Sinhindrea ships looked like shooting stars at this distance as well.

The _Carbo's_ navigator sitting at a wall console next to the cockpit's entryway looked up. "Captain, we're receiving an open broadcast on all frequencies."

"Let's hear it."

The moment the speakers crackled to life Lyndisty recognized her father's voice.

"_Brothers…right now, I should be refining the quality of my newest batch of brivari on my estates if not for these invaders, these servants of Morgoth, god of the underworld and of doorways. We must hold the line here. We fight for our purpose and none others! We fight for our children, our families, our world, our very home! If we die, so be it for we in the cause of right upon our hearts. What we do in life echoes in eternity. We are the Centauri lions. Brothers…I salute you. Val-too!"_

Myriad voices responded through the speakers with shouts of _"Val-too!"_ Some voices could be heard shouting, _"For Centauri Prime!"_

Lifted up on the wave of the enthusiastic reaction to Marrago's speech, the liner's crew shook fists in the air and shouted, "Val-too!"

AUOC-AUOC-AUOC

As the passenger liner made its way carefully toward the jump gate past the field of battle, Lyndisty whispered. "May the gods watch over you and may the goddess Ilaros bless you with her luck, Father."

In struggles for survival, people needed all the gods they could get.

As the shouts of cheers and reprises reverberated in the communication frequencies, glittering beams and pulses of energy weapon fire lashed out from the Centauri warships as fighters launched and charged forth.

Either unable to sense the perimeter and blockade mines employed by the Centauri, or uncaring that they were there in the first place, the forward Sinhindrea fighters and gunships plowed into the minefield. Explosions lit up Sinhindrea shields.

The Sinhindrea plasma fireballs plowed through the onrushing Centauri fighter squadrons, immolating any they touched. The plasma fireballs seemed to stream forth from the Sinhindrea ships rather than being fired, each trailing a tail of heated plasma like a comet. Even the stronger _Rutarian_-class fighters (built in an attempt to counter the newer _Babylon_ Starfuries everyone was impressed and intimidated by) didn't fare much better than the _Sentri_ fighters. A _Vorchan_ and an _Aquila_ fell to the plasma fire that managed get passed the mines and intercepting fighters. Laser beams and plasma pulses splashed against the Sinhindrea shields. It took too many hits to bring them down.

Marrago had known from reports that the shields on the Sinhindrea fighters would hold against a minimum of four direct shots before collapsing, and that the gun ships' shields likewise held against stronger warships' weapons fire before failing. The same reports showed that constant firing of powerful laser beams would eventually wear down the shields as long as the shooter was not destroyed in the process. Orders went out to the fighting units to keep firing directly at the enemy vessels. He also gave orders to the automated mines and weapons platforms to mass against the Sinhindrea.

Meanwhile, Centauri Prime's planetary defense grid launched missiles. Most exploded against the shields of the Sinhindrea capital ships. The blockade mines automatically kept pouring their particle beam fire into the enemy shields while the perimeter mines maneuvered themselves into making direct contact with the Sinhindrea and exploded powerfully. Shields briefly lit up while cyber-organic hulls glowed with radioactive heat.

The battle quickly dissolved into dogfights between Sinhindrea and Centauri fighters.

A _Primus_ battle-cruiser opened fire with heavy X-ray laser cannons and maintained the beams at a Clovien Hunter-killer, causing its shield to glow brightly. A plasma fireball smashed into a wing of a _Vorchan_, causing it to momentarily lose balance. But it returned fire at a Sinhindrea gun ship and kept firing until the enemy shields collapsed and the gun ship disintegrated in explosive flames.

Another _Vorchan_ delivered a glancing blow at a gunship, but this action did not save a Centauri fighter from being destroyed. Elsewhere in the furious battle, a _Rutarian_-class fighter weaved its way out of the line of fire from a Sinhindrea fighter as it kept firing its twin particle array. The enemy shield flashed with each shot, being worn down until the Sinhindrea managed a direct hit on the _Rutarian_, destroying it.

A squadron of _Sentri_ and _Rutarian_ fighters managed to reach a Clovien hunt-ship and harassed its shields with weapons fire. Sinhindrea fighters responded by falling upon them with vengeance.

An order went out from the Centauri flagship and an entire wing of _Primus_ and _Vorchan_ ships advanced and fired all weapons at one of the two _Bane-of-Life_ battleships. The battleship's shields glowed almost bright enough to hide the vessel from sight. Massive plasma fireballs poured out from the _Bane_-_of-Life_ to whittle down the wing of Centauri capital ships. Meanwhile, another wing of capital ships concentrated fire upon the Clovien hunt-ship being harassed by fighters. The battle was now a veritable storm of energy beams and pulses, missiles and fireballs.

Away from the edge of the space battle, a convoy of liners, transports and freighters made its cautious way toward the jump gate. On one of them, the _Carbo_, Lyndisty was watching the battle being fought out and continued praying.

_**Royal Palace, Centauri Prime**_

The Imperial telepaths, still huddling in their chamber, realized that part of Ladira's prophecy had come to pass. She had predicted that she would be the first of the telepaths to die at the hands of the Sinhindrea. Her death may have been delivered telepathically, but the Sinhindrea were directly responsible.

The four women looked at each other as they communicated silently with one another and came to a decision. There was really only one thing that they could do…

…They decided to fight.

As one, they took off their white gloves, joined hands and sent a telepathic message to other telepaths in range who then relayed the message to still other telepaths until the message had been relayed all over the globe. Wherever they could, in the burning cities, in the countryside, in the temples, telepaths congregated and joined bare hands. Lone telepaths sought such gatherings and eventually joined in wherever and whenever possible. In the Earth Alliance, telepaths were required to wear gloves, not just to visibly separate them from mundanes or non-telepaths, but also because PsiCorps leadership feared what they could do if they were able to telepathically join forces.

And they had reason to fear.

During a hunt for rogue telepaths on _Babylon Five_, Talia Winters had once said to Alfred Bester, "You want to keep us frightened and isolated. Not just from normals, but from each other. That's the real reason we wear gloves, isn't it? It's to keep us apart. _But what happens when the gloves come off_?"

The far majority of Human telepaths had no idea what would happen.

Centauri telepaths generally did not wear gloves. They knew exactly what would happen. As one, the joined telepaths all over the planet reached at the minds of the Sinhindrea bearing down upon their home world.

_**Valerius**_

"_Vellurian_– destroyed!"

On the _Valerius_, the ship's military mind-hawk was startled. He had been touched by his people. The military mind-hawks on the ships of the Grand Fleet sensed the communal bonding and joined with them. For this, line of sight wasn't required as psychic tendrils found each other across the planet and beyond. The mind-hawks and the Imperial telepaths in the Royal Palace coordinated the various mind-groups and struck at the Sinhindrea minds. Individual telepaths could never challenge the Sinhindrea. Not even 'the weapon' that was Lyta Alexander had been completely successful on a one – on – one confrontation, but when their minds are combined, they could do so much more.

A planet united stuck back.

Weapons fire lessened from some of the Sinhindrea fighters and gunships as a surprised Sinhindrea reeled from a type of attack that had not been experienced in a millennium. Several crews lost control of their ships as they fought off the creatures trying to influence them. On several of the smaller vessels the loss of control was so evident that the ships started to weave uncontrollably, as if drunk.

The Centauri, never one to miss an opportunity, attacked with increased vigor.

Marrago now ordered the new _Vorchier_-class cruisers into the battle. They were products of the secret Project Firebird and as such, the new cruisers were nicknamed 'firebirds.' Outwardly, they appeared to be merely larger versions of the _Vorchan_ cruisers with four engine thrusters instead of the two at the rear. However, they had first generation versions of the Romulan shield technology and they were armed with early form disruptor cannon weaponology gleamed from the captured but now destroyed Romulan shuttle. Their shields could not match those of the Sinhindrea since they were based on a Romulan shuttlecraft and were first generation, built from a technology they barely understood, but they were the best that the Centauri had. The systems were bulky and were power-hungry, with both the shields and weapons requiring jury-rigged, separate reactors to power them, but they worked.

The _Vorchiers_ advanced and added disruptor fire to the dance of death with the Sinhindrea. A gun ship lost shields and was destroyed.

Lady Setaena of House Hessius gave orders to her family's house ships to concentrate fire on telepath-interfered ships without asking orders from Marrago. An oddity not just in the Royal Court but in the whole scheme of Centauri nobility, House Hessius is currently being administrated by a female 'patriarch'. She survived Cartagia's purges whereas dozens of houses had lost leadership to the former Emperor's madness. Some believed that he had been wary, maybe even a bit afraid of the Great Lady who had been his sitter and one time confident when he was a child. Technically she was acknowledged as House Matriarch but never insisted on that title. Setaena Hessiusis, was a cool, calculating noblewoman who had survived her late husband for twelve years now and ruled her house and family with poise and skill. Too well-seated in her status to be removed even by the mad ruler, and too savvy for her in-family rivals to overthrow, she remained in charge of House Hessius because of three gifts. She had the grace of an imperial decree from Emperor Turhan, there were no viable male members of her house of age to take her place and she was a well-known, powerful telepath.

Marrago simply chose to ignore her actions as she knew he would in his case and refocused on the battle with the ships he controlled. He grunted acknowledgement as he accepted that fact as it was relayed by a scanner officer. The alien warships were mysterious and powerful. The Grand Fleet continued to fight though the line wavered and was slowly pushed inched backward toward home. The forces fought like lions, but courage wasn't the problem.

Behind him, The _Valerius'_ mind-hawk, Cassilo, groaned as he bent down over his console as if nursing a particularly unpleasant headache. He gave a loud startled gasp, attracting Marrago's attention.

"What is it, scurata?" he demanded. When he saw that it was his mind-hawk, he wavered.

"Lord-General, something's happening…"

Cassilo pressed the temples of his head as he grimaced. He closed his eyes and appeared to rest his head in his hands, elbows on the console. His eyes dilated.

The communication console lit up with new lights. The officer manning the station studied the incoming communications. "Lord-General," he said. "The other ships are reporting similar reactions from their mind-hawks."

Marrago tensed. It had to do with the enemy's abominable telepathic abilities.

"Lord-General," called the communication officer again. "Another communication. It's from the _Exaltus _and is requesting visual communication."

The commander of the Grand Fleet frowned. The _Exaltus_ was the flagship of House Hessius' fleet. Even as he turned to the communication screen, he saw that warships bearing the four-pointed red star sigil of House Hessius were advancing forward of the Grand Fleet toward the Sinhindrea line. He frowned further at that. It had to be suicidal to come out beyond the defensive protection of the Grand Fleet.

The viewscreen activated and showed an elegant Centauri lady. A black lace veil covered her bald head, held in place by a jeweled circlet. The veil, however, did not hide her face, which was left open. It was a cool and calculating face even if it was a middle-aged one. The lady held herself like a queen. An Earther might remark on her peculiar resemblance to twenty-first century actress named Helen Mirren.

"Lady Setaena," said Marrago by way of greeting.

Even as he spoke, he wondered what possessed her to order her house fleet to advance deeper into the firing range. But she was a telepath, one as strong as his ship's mind-hawk.

"_Lord-General Jorah Marrago, by now you may have received reports of something occurring to the military mind-hawks. We are joining our fellow telepaths on Home in fighting the aliens arranged against us. We are the focal points and are attempting to interfere with the aliens enough for us to have a little breathing room." She raised a manicured finger and eerily pointed in the direction of the Valerius' battle-screen. "Live for our people. Goodbye."_

The viewscreen winked out.

"Goodbye," Marrago managed to utter.

He and the crew saw that weapons fire lessened a little from some of the Sinhindrea fighters and gunships. If anything, the time spent in recharging and firing the plasma rounds slowly increased. Several of the fighters even seemed to weave through space as if drunk. The lord-general saw that Hessius ships were concentrating their fire on the ships that were evidently telepathically interfered with.

Never one to miss an opportunity, the Centauri Grand Fleet began to attack with increased vigor. Battleships and cruisers followed the Hessius ships into the firing range, while Sentri and Rutarian fighters strafed the enemy with continuous laser and plasma fire.

"Contact the _Albius_," ordered Marrago.

The comm-screen activated once more. On it was the blonde visage of a Romulan woman. Marrago mentally grimaced but did not show his opinion on his politically smooth face. He did not think much of allowing an alien take command of a Centauri military vessel, much less sub-fleet. Still, she was important to the Grand Fleet due to her expertise with the technologies that the Centauri had incorporated into the new _Vorchier_-class cruisers, of which the _Albius_ was the flagship.

Marrago intended to use the four firebirds to their full advantage. That meant using Sela's military skills and experience with the advanced technology. Thus, she was put in charge of the ships despite the risks inherent in allowing an alien have control of Centauri military power. Thus, she was put in charge of the ships despite the risks inherent in allowing an alien have control of Centauri military power. It was a risk but one he believed worth taking.

"New orders," he said.

AUOC-AUOC-AUOC

Lord Idh-yaa saw that some youngling ships, the vessels that the local races would call fighters or frigates, now ranged past the orbit of the second moon toward the sCenp'kU birth-world. Several even struck deep into the orbit of the planet's first moon. She accepted that fact without any feeling as it was relayed to her through a data-receptacle. Soon enough, the colonization fleet's transports and transformation nanites would turn this world into a new spawning ground for the Yonji Sinhindrea.

She could almost taste the psychic and fleshy nourishment she and her people would have on the planet. This world would nourish the war-nymphs necessary to cleanse this part of the galaxy of the stains that dared to refuse the natural superiority of the Sinhindrea life-form.

A slight buzz disturbed Lord Idh-yaa's mind. She psychically swatted the tiny annoyance away, paying as little attention to it as a human would in waving away a house fly. Her mind began to itch as more buzzes entered. She realized that sCenp'kU telepaths were reaching up from the planet below toward the larger Sinhindrea ships in the fleet.

Lord Idh-yaa absolutely loathed the lesser things that dared rise above their station to strike at her and the People. That they dared to touch the mind of her people was an affront to everything she acknowledged.

The buzzes increased until it was a veritable storm of gnats.

Normally, one telepath wouldn't be able to bother a mature Sinhindrea just as one house fly would be only an annoyance to be swatted away. However, if an entire swarm of flies came at a Human, that Human would be hard-pressed to dismiss them and be forced to focus his attention on killing as many as possible or vacate the area.

So it was with Lord Idh-yaa.

She refused to vacate the area. She fought back as a matter of course.

The storm of gnats continued to increase as more of the sCenp'kU joined in the fight not only from the planet but also from the vessels that the food sacks used to resist the Sinhindrea onslaught. They were little more than gnats worthy of exactly no attention at all.

But the numbers of them…

Lord Idh-yaa and others like her paid attention.

Usually, single telepaths could never hope to challenge the Sinhindrea, but when their minds were combined as they were now, they could distract them. Lord Idh-yaa's chromatophores flashed. These light-generating organs conveyed her message of assistance throughout the liquid-filled chamber.

Lord Idh-yaa, understanding what was being done and the threat it imposed on her body did what another Clovien, Lord Csynzu had been forced to and create a triad with the younger Clovien juveniles to combat the threat. Two Sinhindrea almost as old and strong as Lord Idh-yaa answered the call. They came to flank her, and their tentacles reached out to touch each other. Their photo-electric skin cells glowed as the three charged the immediate area around themselves with chemically produced power. Lord Idh-yaa began to spin in place, tentacles still lightly touching the other two elders. The flanking elders, for their part, swam around her, keeping track with her spinning. The dervish-like spinning sped up as the triad was created and its power thrown against the arrogant sCenp'kU telepaths.

Others left their stations, joining the triad in this time of trial and combat. The Clovien command ship slowed, drifting behind the lines as the defending Sinhindrea fought back against this particular attack. They struck without mercy spewing out hatred and death to tens and then dozens of sCenp'kU telepaths that were arrayed against them. They had fire. The Clovien lord and her attendees intended to snuff them all out. This food needed to be tamed, their threat eliminated.

As she and her people stretched out she continued to evaluate the danger. The initial assault had surprised her but the threat wasn't as great as first believed. There were thousands attacking but so many were so weak. They were weak mind floaters, nothing like the ones that were fought so long ago, but together they were just strong enough to distract and in a combat situation that could make a difference. The commonality was fragile, having never been done before.

Her mental call went out and all obeyed. "Kill the mind-floaters."

That was exactly what they began to do.

They struck.

Where there was a storm of gnats, there was now a veritable hurricane full of lightning and tornados. This time, it was from the triad and it blew the storm of gnats apart.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A Universe of Chance-by Candlelight-Defiance_**

**_The Centauri - Sinhindrea conflict _**

**_Part III_**

"_Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds."_

—J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita

**_Centauri Flagship Valerius:_**

Jorah Marrago, Lord-General of the Grand Fleet, watched as another of his precious ships were engulfed by hungry flames that were quickly snuffed out in the vacuum of space. Plumes of plasma fire lanced across space from the Sinhindrea cyber-organic warships amid the dance of laser, missiles and fighters to immolate more ships. It was said that in space, no one could hear you scream.

But Marrago could hear his soldiers screaming as their ships burned and died around them. He wondered whether the thrice-damned soul of Cartagia could hear them shrieking, see them burning. How he was beginning to truly hate that name. This battle was as much that mad emperor's fault as the Sinhindrea's.

Marrago thought of his daughter, Lyndisty. Though not of his seed, she was more precious to his heart than anyone, even his sister, the Lady Drusella who did the House duties that his long deceased wife had left behind. Just before this battle, Drusella had told him that Lyndisty was on ship departing Centauri Prime. The lady herself, however, remained on Home to watch over the Marrago estates and accepted the possible fate of dying with her world like a true noble lady.

The decks beneath his feet thrummed as the _Valerius_ fired missiles at the enemy.

A _Vorchan_ crumbled under a tailed ball of burning plasma. It was close enough for Marrago to see the two crossed swords painted on its fins just before being burned away. House Jaddo, subservient to House Mollari since the death of Lord Urza Jaddo at the hands of Lord Londo Mollari.

Marrago felt slightly drunk but he kept himself coolly detached. It was the battle fever. He could see it in the eyes of the men manning the _Valerius_ bridge and trusted that they were trained enough to heed his commands and to react to the raging battle according to his plans. When the battle fever took you, time seemed to blur, slow, even stop, the past and future vanished until there was nothing but the instant. Fear fled, thought fled, even your body was no longer in your thoughts. You could not feel your wounds, the ache in your back from constantly leaning over your instruments, or the sweat running into your eyes. There was only the fight and the foe. The battle fever made men feel alive even as death was all around them.

He continued to watch the battle unfolding in the battle-screen and give orders where necessary. Several House ships appeared to be holding back. They were not of a single House but belonged to several. Marrago mentally rolled his eyes. Likely as not, they hoped to let this battle weaken the Great Houses by destroying their fleets and the other Houses could ascend with ships that survived by holding back.

Sometimes, the Great Game was inconvenient.

Marrago frowned. There was little that Marrago could do about it since it was the lifeblood of Centauri society. Yet, it was odd how those House ships appeared to be staying together in a group. Approximately in the middle of the roughly spherical group was a heavily armed _Primus_ battle-cruiser named _Pazuzu_. It wasn't obvious but he could see it on the tactical screen.

What was this, an opportunistic alliance of Houses?

A short roar of pain shattered Marrago's concentration. Turning at the shout, he saw Scurata Cassilo doubled over in his seat, a rictus of agony contorting his face, eyes squeezed shut. Cassilo screeched in pain as he jerkily got up from his seat, smashed his hands at his console hard, bloodying them. He grabbed his pistol from the hip holster and wildly fired it, hitting other consoles and crewmen. Sparks fountained as some of those sparks hit crewmen who screamed while others dove for cover and weapons. Marrago ducked down from his command chair. One of Cassilo's energy bolts scorched the battle-screen, creating an ashy spot over the view of the battle raging outside.

Instantly, laser bolts burned into Cassilo's chest. The bridge crew had shot the mind-hawk to protect their lord-general and their ship. Surprise dominated Cassilo's face. He dropped to the deck, knocking his head on a bridge rail hard enough to cause a suddenly bleeding gash. He convulsed hard enough to make knocking noises on the deck. He was dead by the time a crewman came to check on him.

On the now-damaged battle-screen, an explosion blossomed amid Centauri ships.

"Sir," the scanner officer hesitantly said. "That was the _Exaltus_. The enemy didn't destroy it." After a moment, the officer added with a nervous glance at Cassilo's corpse. "…At least, not with weapons fire."

So, Lady Setaena Hessius had fallen to the Sinhindrea retaliation. Marrago knew that the Centauri telepathic intervention was too good to last. Indeed, the weapons fire rate coming from Sinhindrea warships returned to normal and the affected gunships no longer uncertain in their flights.

In many places on Centauri Prime and in the Grand Fleet, telepaths began to scream in agony. Several began to die due to shock and brain hemorrhage. As the Sinhindrea triad spun, more telepaths fell into comas, died or went insane. Soon, Idh-yaa's triad was no longer necessary. Yet, their telepathic interference had given the Centauri much needed breathing room, very slight as it was.

**_Imperial City, Centauri Prime_**

In the underground war-room deep beneath the Royal Palace, Regent Denarri and Grand Admiral Dromo observed all this occurring on the main viewer. Captain Durla of the Royal Palace Guards studied everyone with a protective wariness, while Intelligence Minister Durano looked blithely bored as he watched the activities of the war-room.

Denarri was disappointed. His hope for a turning of the tides of battle rose when he heard about the telepaths intervening to fight the Sinhindrea. Then it dashed to pieces upon observing the Sinhindrea retaliation.

"Regent, sensor contacts!" The sudden shout came from one of the guardsmen manning the stations throughout the massive underground war-room. "Hyperspace disturbances in the outer orbits of the system!"

Denarri said carefully, "How many?"

After a moment of studying the scanner readings, the guardsman looked up and said, "A lot, sir. Fleet scale."

The Regent watched as another large viewer showing a tactical map of the battle raging above Centauri Prime telescoped its view until the whole Centauri star system was shown. Sensor contacts appeared in a large group. A very large group. After a few moments, the sensor contacts were labeled with speed, course and distance, thanks to the early warning grid of beacons. They were still in hyperspace.

"Who are they?" queried Denarri.

"They're on a direct course to Centauri Prime," observed Durano. He glanced at the monitor at the guardsman's station and added, "The war book doesn't recognize the sensor silhouettes."

That meant more enemies. Denarri blanched at the implications.

Carrion birds circling the body in the desert.

Durla said, "We must head them off! If they come here, we're going to be slaughtered!"

Dromo stood up straight as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Regent, I must agree. As you know, we still have another fleet. Use it while we still have it."

Knonto Denarri remembered the message he got from Lady Morella before this battle began. What was that old saying? 'The Great Maker is in the details.' He looked slowly into the eyes of each of the people important to him in the war-room: Dromo certain and ready to do his Regent's bidding; Royal Guard Captain Durla equally ready but with a note of nervousness; Minister Durano silently mocking.

He came to a decision.

"Open all communication frequencies. All of them, both local and interstellar."

After a few moments, a guardsman nodded, indicating readiness to transmit whatever the Regent had to say. Denarri sent a mental prayer to the Great Maker and all the other gods. He took a deep breath and began:

_I am the Regent of the Great Centauri Republic._

_The alien enemy, the Yonji Sinhindrea, have come to attack Centauri Prime. They are Anti-Life. They seek to scour the entire galaxy clean of all forms of life, starting with Centauri Prime. There is no mercy to be found from these aliens._

_We are Centauri. We shall not surrender nor shall we go quietly into the shadow of Death though we stand at the twilight of the Centauri people. Earth and Minbar face the same crisis. If we fall, the whole galaxy falls. We are not alone in this crisis however, if we must fight alone, then we fight alone. It is likely… that none of those who fight on this day will come home alive. _

_There are four reasons for people to face death: faith, country, sovereign, and family. All four reasons are present in this battle. We must be like our ancestors who defeated the Xon when they sought to make us all extinct._

_Centauri Prime is our Home. In the words of Dorva in his classic work, Oda Durana, 'If the heavens are a field of jewels on black silk, surely, surely our star, our world is the brightest treasure of them all.' We must stop the Sinhindrea here. Stop them and we stop their plans to plunge the entire galaxy into the oblivion of extinction. Every minute that we keep the Sinhindrea from reaching my home and consume its people, several hundred more civilians may have a chance to escape to the colonies and beyond. Though Centauri Prime may fall, the Centauri people must have a chance to continue as a race. It is my final duty to announce that Londo Mollari is hereby appointed Prime Minister of the Republic and that in the event of my death on this day, the seat of the Republic shall be transferred to Immolan Five. The Centauri people have successfully come through the trials and tribulations of the centuries ever since the Xon attacked us. Though it may all end in fire, we must remember that we are still Centauri…and we are not afraid._

_May the Great Maker and the gods go with you all._

**_Flagship Valerius:_**

On the flagship of the Grand Fleet, Marrago heard the Regent's speech as did everyone else in the Republic and beyond. As the speech raced along the tachyon relays in hyperspace, other worlds like Earth, Minbar, _Babylon Five_ and the League worlds would in turn hear it.

Still, the Yonji Sinhindrea were not making this battle easy. Then again, there was never such a thing as an easy fight with creators such as them. Despite the firepower brought to bear by the Grand Fleet, the mines, and the planetary defense grid, the cyber-organic warships with relatively few losses on their side, were advancing ever closer.

He did admit to himself with no small amount of pride that the ships from the Great Houses were making a good accounting of themselves alongside the Royal Navy ships despite the failure of the telepaths. The _Vorchier_ firebirds were also proving themselves well in this battle as their shields glowed and their green beams lanced into biomechanical hulls. Still, the Sinhindrea main force had advanced almost to the orbit of the second moon, Tenvo, thus forcing the forward vanguard of the Grand Fleet to fall back.

Therefore, Marrago judged the moment to be right. He gestured at the main communications officer and said, "Send the code."

The officer scrambled to send the code into hyperspace; just one single letter.

Z.

In the maelstrom of hyperspace, a small Centauri fleet maintained position. It had ten _Primus_ battle-cruisers, each escorted by three _Vorchan_ cruisers. The code was received by the fleet's flagship, the _Sulem_. When Captain Nanrillo Mareau saw it, he knew what it meant.

"The Republic's fate depends on the result of this battle. Let every man do his utmost duty."

It was the signal.

"Are we receiving telemetry from the Grand Fleet?" he asked of the scanner officer.

"Yes, sir."

With that, the officer brought up the tactical map, showing positions of Centauri and Sinhindrea warships. Special attention was paid to the largest Sinhindrea warships, the _Bane-of-Life_ battleships.

"Send the positions to the other ships in the fleet." Nanrillo caught a glance from his executive officer, Rannando.

Rannando had privately wondered to Nanrillo if the orders weren't suicidal. Nanrillo knew that his executive officer was silently conveying his own misgivings to the captain through his eyes. He nodded with understanding. They were Royal Guardsmen and they would do their duty to the Imperial Throne, now held by the Regent, and to the Republic.

Each of the _Primus_ battle cruisers peeled off to their assigned positions in hyperspace, escorted by their _Vorchans_.

Passenger Liner _Carbo_

"Are we almost at the jump gate?" inquired Lyndisty anxiously.

"Sixteen minutes before we can activate the gate, milady" said Captain Lebo with a calm demeanor meant to relax the nervous noblewoman and the passengers who not help but listen to his answer.

Lyndisty felt torn between wanting to be with her father and wanting to be at _Babylon Five_ with Vir Cotto. She understood duty to the Republic for Marrago had taught her that lesson well. If she reached the _Babylon_ station, she could be with Vir, and perhaps through him, Londo, who was now the Prime Minister of the Republic even if he didn't yet know it. If Centauri Prime falls, she thought bitterly, Londo could be the one who could rally the colonies against the Sinhindrea and keep her people alive.

Also, _Babylon Five_ was working with the Starfleeters and Earth Alliance to build an alliance of worlds through that station at Epsilon Three. That alliance could save the Centauri colonies and maybe even home.

If the Sinhindrea managed to butcher the home world and consume the colonies, Lyndisty wouldn't be able to see any light at the end of the tunnel. Nor could she see Vir and herself living together happily ever after. Wait! At a time like this, what was she thinking? A corner of her mouth twitched in wry amusement. If she could finally get together with Vir, Aunt Drusella would finally cease her search for suitable suitors for her. She vividly remembered her last words to Vir:

"I take your gentle face with me, transmuted into memory by the alchemy of my affection as deposit on our wedding night. I will see you again, Vir. Soon."

She had meant her words even if her union with Vir Cotto was arranged mainly for political reasons between the Houses to attach House Marrago with House Mollari's rising star. Those pleasant thoughts however were quickly interrupted.

"Something's happening," said the navigation officer.

Everyone in the _Carbo_'s cockpit looked up at the windows.

Ten jump points bloomed open in the midst of the Sinhindrea armada. The energies of those jump points tore into the two _Bane-of-Life_ battleships and one of the four _Clovien_ battle-cruisers. Shields glowed and collapsed. Sinhindrea within the ships shrieked in rage and surprise. By chance, the energies of one jump point tore into the twin power matrices of a _Bane-of-Life_. The power matrices lost containment. Their light dimmed as they instantly imploded, then brightened blindingly as they exploded spectacularly like mini-novae, vaporizing and shattering everything in an omni-directional blast wave. Each explosion was as if the radiance of a thousand suns burst at once.

A _Tribulation_ battle-cruiser suffered the same fate.

Everyone within viewing range flinched at the sudden intensely bright blast and had to shield their eyes. On the planet's surface, people looked up at sudden new bright stars that shone for a moment before fading away. On the _Carbo_, Lyndisty threw up a hand against the bright lights. Once the lights were gone, she stared. She was dimly aware of the liner crew and passengers cheering. She had no voice to join them.

Then the shockwaves reached the civilian ships. Though weakened by distance, they still caused decks to jump or to drop depending on where the ships were. Screams and yells came and went while metal plating groaned and grinded as they bent to accommodate the new pressures. Lyndisty grabbed the back of a pilot's chair as the _Carbo_ shuddered hard, but she kept watching the battle through the tiny cockpit windows.

A _Primus_ battle-cruiser came with three _Vorchans_ out of each of the new jump points. Almost immediately, six of the battle cruisers and their escorts were swallowed by the mini-nova explosions of the Sinhindrea singularities' containment loss. The shockwaves from the multiple mini-novae buffered vessels wherever they were not vaporized or shattered, as if caught in a sudden sea tempest. Crewmen lost footing or were thrown out of chairs if they did not think of putting on safety harnesses. Many were injured this way. Hull plating buckled in the tempest of shockwaves but further away from the blasts, ships held together.

All could see that Sinhindrea ships that were not directly assaulted by the jump point energies survived, if a bit thrown about by the shockwaves. Shields and resilient cyber-organic hull designed with long experience with such blasts in mind, had saved them. Moreover, the viscous fluid environments within protected the aliens within from possible injury as their ships were shoved by the shockwaves. The aliens were tough and armored, surviving the buffeting with ease. They quickly recovered their wits and lashed out.

The _Primus_ that came out of the jump point that tore into the _Bane-of-Life _had to flee quickly as every surviving weapon on that huge warship immediately turned its attention upon it and its _Vorchan_ escorts. The _Sulem_ soon lost momentum as its engines were taken out, but its momentum was enough to carry it forward in space toward the Centauri side of the battle. The same could not be said for its escorts. Fast _Aquila_ destroyers and a _Vorchier_ firebird quickly moved in to rescue the surviving _Primus_ cruisers from the havoc they had just wreaked upon the Sinhindrea, their hulls scorched and buckled from the mini-novae and retaliatory fire. At the end, only two _Primus_ ships and fifteen _Vorchans_ survived the Sinhindrea storm of vengeance. But they had managed to wound the enemy.

**_Imperial Centauri Warship Albius – Vorchier class_**

The Romulan-Human hybrid Admiral Sela held onto the arms of her chair hard as sparks flew throughout the command bridge and the ship shook under the impact of enemy fire. A rivulet of green blood ran slowly from a cut in her left temple from when the shockwaves hit her firebird cruiser earlier. Gritting her teeth, she shouted for the _Vorchiers_ to continue their strafing runs.

The main view screen was much larger and more encompassing than the usual battle-screen. It was a "gift" of Romulan technology. At the moment, it showed an almost sickening sweep of the battle as the _Albius _executed an evasive dive. Burning Centauri ships swept past as explosions bloomed here and there.

Sela, for her part, didn't quite like her position on the _Albius_. Although she enjoyed being finally in command of a warship, the _Vorchier_ cruiser was certainly not a Romulan warbird. For a moment, she could imagine a squadron of green _D'deridex_ warbirds diving and tearing into the Sinhindrea with herself in command.

The lethalness of what was happening right now pushed those thoughts into the deep recess. For now, she had to make do with these relatively advanced Centauri firebirds.

Not for the first time, she wondered whether it was a mistake to accept Regent Denarri's invitation to Centauri Prime to repair relations between the Republic and the Romulan Star Empire well, actually her. 'Admiral' Sela was the personal representative of the Star Empire even if that government was completely out of reach and she was one of a bare handful of Romulans in this universe. She had accepted mainly to avoid continued emotional entanglements with that woman Tasha Yar, her supposed mother in another life. She had also accepted in order to attempt gaining a powerbase separate from that being formed by Picard and the others at _Babylon Five_. While she recognized herself to be part Human, she had made her choice to be Romulan through and through when she betrayed her mother to her father, General Meldet Volskiar when she was four years old as Mama planned to escape with Sela.

The universally displaced woman needed time and space to adjust, hence, her acceptance of the post as Romulan envoy to Centauri Prime despite everything that had happened to her. In other words, she was running and she knew it just as she also knew that she would have to confront her 'mother' and settle matters once and for all. Romulans were passionate people, but there were practical people as well and Sela was no exception. As much as she hated to admit it, Tasha Yar was not her mother, not in the sense that she understood her to be. As much as she had contempt for Tasha, it wasn't the same. Picard wasn't the same either. He represented a focus for her hatred of the Federation but this was not same and that she had known before and despite her internal protests, her logic would not allow her to fight against in the same way. He _was_ Picard, but he wasn't either. Still, she had to leave to get away from the turmoil which is why she came to the very place where she'd been tortured. There were questions to be answered as well.

But Cartagia was dead she thought with no small amount of satisfaction. He was a mad soul, worse, he was incompetent as well. Furthermore, Sela also recognized that everyone needed to stand together or fall to the Sinhindrea extinction fleets and that had to include the Starfleet representatives. She needed them and they needed her but…she wasn't ready to deal with those personal demons quite yet. However, she had run out of time as one of these fleets assaulted Centauri Prime. Often, she wondered how she would do if she was ever caught in one of those epic battles told in Romulan myths and legends. She should be at home making a stand against those robots and the Borg who destroyed Romulus and the heart of the Empire! But Q had ruined all of that. The time to find out was upon her but the place of her choosing would not be hers. She hoped that she was making a good accounting of herself.

Although the Centauri were not as advanced as the Romulans and long past their prime, that race still bore the genes of conquerors. There were still brave men in the Republic, devoted men, shrewd men…with the experience of a history almost as long as that of the Romulans to guide them. If they saw doom before them, they'd fight like demons…

…And they were fighting like demons now. They were once called the Lion of the Galaxy and they were now making a good accounting of themselves. One of the things Sela learned from her father and at the Romulan Imperial War College was that excellent generals were hard to find and could not be wasted or risked in direct battles. Still, a good commander would be on one of those warships fighting in the heavens above Centauri Prime.

She mentally laughed. If only her father, General Volskiar, could see her now!

"Mistress Sela, the _Pontius_ reports heavy damages to the engines!"

Sela grunted her acknowledgement with just a touch of unvoiced anger. She was an Admiral in the Romulan Empire, which of course didn't exist here. These people would have to learn respect if they lived long enough. "Order _Pontius_ to retreat deeper into the fleet but to keep firing while they affect repairs."

Now her wolf pack was down to three. What she wouldn't give for a squadron of _D'deridex_ warbirds or even those new _Valdore_-class warbirds she had heard to be on Imperial Fleet drawing boards.

The _Albius_ swung in tandem with her two flanking firebirds as green disruptor fire lashed unceasingly into Sinhindrea gunships. The shields on one of the gunships flared and collapsed just as a small green-glowing anti-matter torpedo, reversed engineered and redesigned prototypes from 'acquired' Narn antimatter defense mines, smashed into the active plasma generators situated in the gun ship's maw. The torpedo's explosion was swallowed up by the glowing plasma but it imploded, then exploded violently leaving nothing of the gunship.

Sela gave a curt nod of satisfaction. It was a good thing that the Centauri already had antimatter reactor technology, otherwise, they'd have a hard time making archaic antimatter torpedoes, even with the reverse-engineering of Narn technology. They were primitive but, they worked. She was good but she wasn't an engineer. Her knowledge of Romulan weapons technology wasn't enough to provide any real help to their scientists and her shuttle was just that, a shuttle. Barely functional shields, and sensors, plus a small disruptor helped the Centauri glean insights of her technology. But it would be years before they had enough understanding of subspace science make a practical engine and sensor suites.

"Show me the area where _Sulem_ Squadron came out of hyperspace."

A small glowing rectangular outline flashed into appearance over an area of the main viewer's vista and expanded, telescoping the area to cover the main viewer. It was full of Sinhindrea vessels, still belching plasma comets. Debris from destroyed and damaged Sinhindrea and Centauri warships still spun and flew in expanding clouds. The jump point maneuver had hurt the Sinhindrea. Marrago, as well as the survivors of the jump point fleet that made up _Sulem_ Squadron, had paid a very heavy price for attempting the infamous Minbari tactic of opening jump points in the middle of an enemy fleet.

Sela grimly approved. It was almost Romulan in its conception but the loss of so many allied ships had sullied the victory. Still, the Sinhindrea armada continued to advance against the besieged Centauri line.

**_Civilian Liner Carbo_**

Lyndisty mentally shied away from the burden she imagined this battle to be laying upon her father's shoulders. She accepted the reality of the Great Game, full of deadly court intrigue and assassinations among the noble houses. She could even fight and subdue a Narn. Her father's training had seen to that. Perhaps at _Babylon_ _Five_, she could test herself against a Klingon if it ever came to that. Nevertheless, she was glad that she was too much of a lady to be attracted to warfare. So much death and destruction.

What was that the seeress Lady Ladira said? _Fire, death, pain, destruction._

"Two minutes to the gate," called out the liner's navigator.

Soon, the civilian convoy would jump into hyperspace and away from danger. But then, Lyndisty reflected, the galaxy would soon drown in danger and there would be no safe place anywhere if Centauri Prime and Minbar fall to the Sinhindrea. Not even _Babylon_ _Five_ and the newcomer's starbase _La Barre._

Captain Lebo said, "So far so good. None of the enemy has noticed us. Inform the other ships to make the transition in order."

There was no need to die just as the gate opened while trying to be the first to make it to hyperspace and freedom from the battle.

"Maybe they didn't notice us because they didn't see us as a threat?" wondered Lyndisty.

"As long as they don't, we'll live."

An alarm at the navigator's station screamed for attention.

"Energy spike! It's the jump gate!"

Indeed, through the windows, they could see the lights running down the series of pylons making up the gate.

Captain Lebo shouted, "It's too early! We're still too far from the gate!"

"Great Maker!" swore Lyndisty. Her eyes blazed with anger fueled by fear. "Who's the idiot that opened the gate too early?!"

The pilot said, "It's opening from the other side! Look! It's incoming!"

Indeed, they saw that the vortex opening in the gate was blue instead of the red of outgoing vortexes.

"Who is coming?" wondered Lyndisty aloud. Her voice had pitched higher than normal by fresh fear trying to crush her. "Don't they know there's a war on here?"

The navigator peered at the scan readings in his console, the computer bringing up recognition silhouettes from its files. He blanched as he looked up away from the console to the window in shock.

"Orieni!" he yelled in shock and fear.

Lyndisty gasped as the first winged-arrowhead-shaped warships poured out of the jump gate.

**_Orieni Imperial Flagship- Flame of Purity_**

Twenty minutes before reaching the Centauri Prime jump gate, Hwi Rak, the First of Fleet Chaplains in the Great Crusade, listened to the speech transmitted by the ruler of the Centauri Republic.

"…_Though it may all end in fire, we must remember that we are still Centauri…and we are not afraid._

_May the Great Maker and the gods go with you all."_

Could it be? Hwi Rak marveled at how the Living Gods worked in mysterious ways. She clicked her beak slowly at the thought.

Admiral Hayato Shrak, for his part, was studying the holotank showing the position of the ships in the combined armada of Orieni, Rogolon and Red Monk warships. The son of the legendary Admiral Hiraka Shrak, hero of the Great Centauri War, said, "Hierophant, that means the Life-Destroyers are attacking the Centauri and their current leader is desperate enough to make this speech." A claw on one of her hands tapped a button and the holotank gave a time measurement in glowing digits. "We will bring the Light to Centauri Prime soon enough." He softly added, "About time."

Hwi Rak glanced at the white-uniformed admiral. He didn't seem to be aware that his feather crest was raised up in a defensive manner. She understood the reason behind the posture. The entire ship felt a bit off. Feelings of foreboding and fear pervaded the combined fleet. She looked around the command center and saw sleepy bleary-eyed faces on many of the crewmen and soldiers. They went about their duties slowly and seemingly without care. There were even careless and grave errors in duties done by some of the crewmen before the armada reached the outskirts of the Centauri home system. On a Rogolon ship, an engineer forgot to turn the system safety measures back on, endangering the crew until someone noticed and turned it back on. On one of the smaller Orieni ships, a pilot left the security doors to an airlock open. The error was noticed only when someone carelessly walked into the airlock and was jettisoned out into hyperspace.

Needless to say, the pilot was accordingly punished for such a dereliction of duty.

On this very ship, the _Flame of Purity_, a mechanic who was tasked to fix a coolant leak on a lower deck forgot to open the pressure valve when he left. By the time Hwi Rak arrived in the area in a routine tour of inspection, the pressure had built up too high and exploded. Fortunately, she escaped injury. Others weren't so fortunate: unarmored soldiers had suffered injuries from lacerating pipe shrapnel and superheated droplets of coolant.

To head off accusations of sabotage, Hwi had immediately investigated this and all other such incidents. She had found that none of them were done out of any sort of malice or spite, merely out of an absent-minded lack of focus. Several had expressed worries and suspicions that a drug was introduced into the food supply or a chemical into the air ventilation system to make everyone act so strangely.

Hwi Rak had wondered if the worries of sabotage weren't correct after all and now he knew he was correct. It was those dreams. They were all weighed down by imagery and visions the night before. At first, it was the telepaths who suffered. The closer the armada came to the Centauri home system, the more the dreams spread among the crews and soldiers.

Working with the other chaplains in the fleet, Hwi had discovered that the disturbances were caused by an alien telepathic interference enhanced by the mysterious properties of hyperspace. The chaplains had talked to the people in the fleet, acting as counselors and interrogators as part of their holy duties.

Some people reported dreams that showed the wonders of the Dark City and the dark utopia that awaited them if they would only serve the masters of that city. Some people spoke of being plagued with horribly visceral nightmares in which they were being held by powerful tentacles and devoured by a monstrosity with huge teeth and jabbing fangs. So bad were these nightmares that several of the dreamers' body was wracked with tendon-tearing spasms so that healers had to be summoned to their quarters in the morning.

Hwi shivered. All descriptions of the Dark City agreed with each other and with her own dreams of it which began the moment the armada crossed over into Centauri territory after the taking of Kazomi Seven.

To verify these people's reports, she had delved into their minds and seen the remembered images. She also saw other Dark City nightmares in which Orieni, Rogolons and Red Monks saw heaps of bodies and sacrificed alien beings on the streets of the mythic Dark City and were trapped within its walls. Although frightening to a certain extent, this particular dream was more worrisome than scary and it had felt real to the dreamer when he or she woke up. For the remainder of the day, they, including Hwi, could not shake the images out of their minds.

Hwi glanced sidelong at the admiral standing beside her and gently delved into the admiral's mind. What she saw disturbed her:

_Hayato Shrak saw the flagship in a horrible state of disrepair and saw himself walking through corridors littered with shorn limbs and shed blood, the air thick with smoke and decay. Nothing was untouched and there were bloody handprints, and dead bodies he recognized as crew people and soldiers alike were strewn everywhere. Everywhere Hayato turned, there was an ominous presence lurking nearby—nearly grabbing him with savage tentacles just before he woke up screaming._

He didn't admit to the screaming, not even to himself, but Hwi could telepathically see it in his memories.

For others, sleep was no escape either. They experienced unsettling dreams in which flashes of images of shadows writhing with tentacles, and crazed people invaded their subconscious mind all night long. They could not put their finger on exactly what was plaguing their mind but it was frightening for them nonetheless. As a result of tossing and turning all night long, they were tired in the morning.

Those who were fortunate enough not to have the dreams still did not find rest in sleep. They could not find a comfortable position in bed, had a headache or could not go to sleep for some reason. No matter what they did, barring chemical sedation, they couldn't go fully to sleep for more than an hour at a time. It had been a frustrating evening for them to say the least.

Hwi Rak had experienced all these dreams from her mental probes. She remembered her own dream in which she visited the Dark City and saw a young Centauri woman, a slip of a girl, really, look at her and seemed to be surprised to see Hwi there.

She shook her head. The disturbances were getting to her. All day, she had used her telepathic skills to calm the crewmen and soldiers suffering from these and had ordered the other chaplains in the fleet to do likewise. They also used their telepathic skills to shore up the soldiers' mental defenses.

Hwi Rak turned her attention back to the speech spoken by the Centauri regent. "Admiral, perhaps the Centauri have found Order."

"Have they?" wondered Hayato Shrak skeptically.

"Remember the Empire's motto, admiral. Order from Chaos." Hwi gestured at the windows showing the maelstrom of hyperspace. "The Centauri may be a chaotic people, but they have sided with the Light by fighting the Harbingers of Death and Destruction. The Living Gods have directed us to Centauri Prime. It is therefore our duty to save them from the Harbingers."

Hayato stretched his beak as he yawned uncontrollably. Hwi forgave the admiral for the shocking breach of manners. This trip had been a trying one. Not even the Orieni Empire's crusade against the Drakh home-world during the Great War with the Centauri had burdened them so.

"Yes, Hierophant. I still think we should have redirected our fleet to Minbar. It is the stronger and more advanced world. With the Minbari allied with us, we could go and save the other worlds of Known Space."

Hwi rolled her eyes and clicked her beak out of exasperation. Not this old argument again. "You are the Hand of the Blessed and the Council of Blessed Hierophants. They've given you the orders. My father, Khorst Rak himself, led the Council as the Leader of the Blessed in giving the orders. Moreover, the Living Gods themselves have directed us to this place. Do you need more assurances?" With that, she softly brushed Hayato Shrak's mind lightly, but enough for him to feel the feather touch going through his thoughts.

The admiral snapped his beak shut loudly. The feather crest on his head smoothed down, erasing his defensive posture thus indicating his acceptance of Hwi's position. To avoid embarrassment, Hayato glanced at the holotank. He announced, "We're approaching the Centauri jump gate."

Hwi Rak nodded. They were all as ready as they could be. Pride swelled in her chest. The _Flame of Purity_ was the only capital ship to survive the Great Centauri War and now it served as flagship of the crusade against the forces of Anti-Life. The irony that this upgraded _Paragon_-class warship which once bloodied the Centauri would now fight to save them did not escape her.

"We could let the Centauri fight it out with the Destroyers," said Hayato. "It'd make it easier for us to take them down in battle."

Hwi clicked her beak for a moment. "No. They wish to be saved. The Destroyers would pretend to be Lords of Death and demand sacrifices. In the name of the Living Gods, we shall not permit it. They will finally learn to serve us as they should. Let their near destruction be a lesson to them."

"Very well," accepted Hayato. "Launch the Templars," he commanded. "Open gun ports and load missile tubes."

On the smaller screens, the admiral watched as the Templar fighters raced out of all the Orieni ships capable of carrying them, and maneuvered out around their motherships while keeping out of the way of the missile launchers and cannons which were now coming out of open gun ports.

One of the paladins manning the bridge said, "Templars in position. The Rogolons and the Red Monks are launching fighters and reporting readiness."

"Weapons systems?"

"Plasma cannons online. Laser cannons online. Coil-guns online. Gatling rail guns primed and ready. Flak arrays primed and ready. Missiles ready to launch." The paladin clicked his beak softly. "All units of the fleet report ready for combat."

"Paladin Kra, give us a fleet-wide transmission."

The addressed soldier bowed his feathered head. "At once, Admiral."

"This battle will be a test for us as well as the Centauri," commented Hwi Rak. "After this, we shall offer the Centauri the opportunity to serve us and by that, the purity of Light."

Hayato's beak drooped open in shock. Excepting the Shadows and their servants, the Centauri were the Empire's worst nemesis. They had smashed the Orieni Empire and set its mission of bringing the Light to the galaxy back several centuries.

"The Council of the Blessed has given me the discretion and authority," explained Hwi. "The Centauri conduct in this battle will either persuade or dissuade me. The offer of servitude will depend on that. All must stand together or fall into the Destroyers' abyss of fire and darkness." She turned her head to look at Hayato, causing her smooth feather plumage's iridescence to gleam in the light. "Besides, the Light is always open to new allies against the darkness."

Hayato threw a quick glance at the two Red Monk soldiers guarding the entrance to the ship's bridge. They wore the smooth crimson armor and tall helmets of the Red Monks. Each held a lance with a pointed glass bulb at the tip inside which bursts of flame sparked and merged. Their people were the most recent addition to the Orieni Empire, and Hayato had to admit that their advanced powerful ships were quite beneficial to the armada and would be very helpful against the Destroyers. In fact, their technology enabled them to bypass numerous gates to reach _Babylon_ _Five_ and it was now enabling the Orieni armada to bypass jump gates to reach Centauri Prime itself. Such a strategic asset could not be overestimated.

Kra turned back. "Admiral, we have an open comm-system. All units are standing by, awaiting your final orders."

"Thank you, Reshak Kra," said Hwi, instantly asserting herself into the position of command.

After a glance at Hayato who stood in consenting silence, Kra bowed and returned to his duty.

Hwi Rak turned to face the bridge windows. She could see other ships of the armada lurking in hyperspace, Orieni, Rogolon and Red Monk, each now escorted by fighters.

"Warriors of the Hand of the Blessed, we stand at the cusp of our first battle with the Life-Destroyers who are the Harbingers of Death. Where the Living Gods are Lords of Order and the cursed Shadows are Lords of Chaos, they are Lords of Death. We serve the Light and walk the path of Order. We have served the Living Gods since the dawn of civilization and so many have joined us on that path. Yet, the Destroyers of Life seek to erase that path, to cast the entire galaxy into fire and darkness. We must stop them. We must punish them with our righteous flame. The Living Gods have decreed it. The Destroyers will burn! We shall fulfill the will of the Living Gods!"

"Order from Chaos!" chanted the fleet crews in answer.

"The Living Gods favor us," chirped Hwi Rak, her pure white silk robes rustling as she raised her hands in benediction. "Any past sins will be forgiven when we have proven our devotion in this battle. Blessed are the Living Gods."

"_Blessed__ are the Living Gods,"_ replied the fleet.

She gazed into the depths of hyperspace swirling through the bridge windows.

"Jump."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Part IV**_

_**Chapter Four**_

"_**Sela"**_

_**Centauri Prime**_

_**Command & Control Central**_

"With our reserves, we're down to forty percent effectiveness, and we have not yet engaged their heavy ships," Regent Knonto Denarri tonelessly announced to his subordinates. The military needed to redress their lines but the enemy wasn't given anyone a break. There were already gaps in the line and those gaps were becoming wider each and every moment as ships succumbed to overwhelming Sinhindrea firepower. Literally thousands of small craft of every description, were lifting off from all over the planet to help defend home or to somehow escape the incoming holocaust. Most of these older, less capable ships were civilian craft with a few weapons emplacements attached to them, even a few ancient warships that should not even have been in service in the first place were rising from the surface in order to meet the enemy. The Centauri were establishing a last-ditch line of defense in order to protect their home. It was very commendable but would be enough.

"How much time do we have?" He remained calm but the urgency in his voice gave truth to the lie he was trying to project.

"At the rate of ship loss, we estimate the enemy will break through our lines twenty minutes before they obtain superiority over our skies."

_Twenty minutes was nothing! _He thought desperately. _'We have yet to engage their larger ships'!_ "We need to give the civilians as much time as we can. Move in what reserves we have while we still can." Time was of the essence if even if it only served to save just one more Centauri soul.

"My Regent, the jump gate has opened. Ships, a fleet are coming through. Sir, jump points opening behind the Sinhindrea lines!"

Denarri could barely believe it. There were those willing to help the Centauri people? His mind raced. Maybe it was the Earthers. First reports had rumors that Earth had been attacked by this same enemy but he hadn't had time to fully review those reports due to the current crisis. They were one of the few people that would even consider helping despite the recent conflicts with them if they had survived. But, he wasn't sure. It could well have been anyone, maybe even the Vorlons returning. "Who are they?" demanded.

The speaker who identified the alien presence was in a state of shock and everyone could hear the loathing and fear contained in his voice. "Warships identified as… Orieni!"

The Orieni's presence hadn't been seen in Centauri territory for decades.

"The Great Maker hates us," Minister Durano muttered. The words came out as if they were death sentence. "The Lion of the galaxy is breathing his last breath."

The old royal stared reproachfully at the Regent whom he all but accused of destroying their home. There was murder in the man's eyes and Denarri could see the hatred almost boiling out of the man. Durano's lust to be emperor had brought out madness in the man. If that had happened and the fool had ascended to the throne, surely Centauri Prime would have been lost hours ago. Denarri had an impulse to have the minister shot right then and there for the betterment of the Centauri home world.

He considered himself an enlightened dictator for his people despite the desire to be something better nevertheless he '_was'_ a dictator at this point, but he pushed his desire aside at this time as the sensor officer continued his observations. On the huge screen which dominated the entire room, long-distances cameras backed by orbital cameras and sensors recorded and transmitted every detail of the battle.

"The Orieni lines are forming. They are attacking the Sinhindrea! Their fighters are deploying attempting to swarm the rear enemy elements."

_A reprieve!_ This was exactly what was needed. Perhaps there was hope left for the old Lion.

Behind him that old fool Minister Durano seemed to deflate and it was at that precise moment that Denarri sealed the old man's fate, whatever the outcome of this war.

_**Centauri flagship Valerius**_

Lord-General Marrago released a small sigh of relief as he watched the convoy of civilian ships disappear into the jump gate that they had re-opened after the Orieni came out. Lyndisty would be on one of those ships. He hoped that she would find safety. She was a smart girl.

He, his sister Lady Drusella and his adopted daughter Lyndisty were the last of House Marrago.

Not one Lord Marrago had died in his own bed in over two hundred years. Every one of them had fallen to war, the intrigues of the Royal Court, rebellion in distant provinces and worlds or, in one notorious and embarrassing case, the bed of a married noble lady. The patriarchs of House Marrago did not tend to die in their own beds surrounded by family and loved ones.

Jorah had no wife, no children except Lyndisty. Except for her, he was the last of House Marrago. But when she marries, if she ever marries, House Marrago would be absorbed into her husband's name and exist no more. The past was gone, burned away in fire and war. The future would need new warriors, new ways, and new lords. He did not mind that he might die in this epic battle. However, he did wish for the people of Centauri Prime to survive in the name of his daughter.

_Now his legacy all depends on Lyndisty_, he thought.

When the Orieni came, his hearts rose up into his throat. They were an old enemy that the Centauri Republic had broken in the Centauri-Orieni War almost two hundred-sixty years ago. A resurgent Orieni Empire had been one of the reasons the Centauri did not join the Dilgar War. Now they came with three distinct fleets gathered into a single armada. Lyndisty's life seemed forfeit but to his relief, the civilian ships were being completely ignored.

He was relieved to see that they came not for the Centauri but for the Sinhindrea. Though _Vorchans_ individually still occasionally arrived at Centauri Prime through jump points to defend the home world, Marrago knew that they needed help against the powerful Sinhindrea. But why did they come here now? Not that there wasn't a part of him that was happy that they had arrived, by they had been deadly enemies for hundreds of years and had shown no signs of wishing to negotiate with the Republic.

When he heard that the Orieni had conquered Kazomi Seven, Marrago had assumed that the Orieni were taking advantage of the Sinhindrea distraction to expand up to the Centauri border and would use that world as a springboard from which to pick up the pieces of the Republic once the Sinhindrea were finished with them. But they came as saviors rather than conquerors. They were an ally unlooked for. Or, were they? It was too early to tell.

Perhaps they could still save Centauri Prime from the coming butchery. Or, perhaps not.

"All ships, continue fire," ordered Marrago.

The Centauri Grand Fleet fought with renewed vigor.

Perhaps together they could convince the Sinhindrea to leave?

_**Centauri Space**_

In the jump gate holding position in a Lagrange point between Centauri Prime and the first of its two moons, Shia-leth, lights flashed down its struts as it built up the energy needed to tear a vortex out from hyperspace into normal space.

Orieni warships shaped like winged arrow-heads rushed out of the swirling vortex in the jump gate. Mixed in with them were the pretzel-shaped warships of the Red Monks and the flattened cylinders of the Rogolon warships. They quickly passed over a long convoy of Centauri civilian ships making for the jump gate, eliciting squawks of surprise and fear.

_**AUOC-AUOC-AUOC**_

* * *

"Status report," ordered Hayato Shrak. "Get me visuals."

"Data streams are starting to come in, Admiral," reported a paladin. "We are downloading the sensor data from other units in the fleet to the holotank."

Hayato and Hwi studied the deployment of the armada. Tiny holographic ships were forming up into their assigned formations. Part of the fleet was assuming a defensive posture but the bulk was already moving forward. Enemy icons began to flash into life in the holotank. They could see that their armada had come out of hyperspace perpendicular to the fighting fleets.

"Admiral, there are numerous vessels sighted above the first moon's orbit."

"The Destroyers?"

"Yes, Admiral." Reshak Kra gestured to the holotank. "We have confirmation on those silhouettes. Sir, the Centauri are still locked in combat with them."

Indeed, tiny holograms of ships recognized in the war-book to be Centauri military vessels of all classes engaged in dogfights and maneuvers against other tiny vessels that were unfamiliar to the Orieni, yet known to belong to the Life-Destroyers. One huge capital ship and several smaller yet still large capital ships, as well as frigates, gunships and fighter analogs were part of the enemy fleet. The sensor data read them to be cyber-organic. Energy barrier bubbles of some type protected the alien vessels. The power readings of their plasma weapons were intimidating.

_First Ones_, thought Hayato. Even as the thought formed, he and Hwi Rak winced as they witnessed a plasma blast plow through a Centauri cruiser in the forward bridge windows, crumpling and shattering it. The second moon, Tenvo, hung in the distance like an indifferent observer, uncaring about the death surrounding it.

Hayato drew himself up and gave the order in a calm tone. "Fleet will continue to advance at combat speed. All ships, prepare to engage."

"All commands report readiness."

"Templar squadrons have completed forming screens," another paladin reported. "The Red Monks and Rogolons are reporting their readiness to engage."

"Admiral, the first wave of _Blazing Stars_ is primed for launch."

"All wings are standing by to engage."

"Sensors to full," ordered Hayato calmly. The enemy icons were nearing weapons range in the holotank. "Lock weapons and prepare to fire." He pointed at the icon of the largest enemy battleship. "Get me a visual of that."

A screen on the console below the holotank rippled into activation and showed a _Bane-of-Life_ battleship belching large trailing balls of plasma that instantly immolated anything they touched. It sported two large energy spheres lined up along the vessel's axis on the rear. Nearby were several smaller yet still large capital ships with one energy sphere at the stern. Frigates, gunships and fighters of similar architecture were also part of the enemy fleet. Their design spoke of impossible, even non-Euclidean technology. Hayato Shrak felt a cold shiver at the sight. "Circles of Fire and Darkness," he swore softly under his breath.

Hwi Rak telepathically shored up the admiral's mind. "The Living Gods favor us," she said. Her robes were pristine and her head feathers lifted up into a crest. "They offer us a chance to redeem ourselves and re-establish ourselves as champions of the Light." She laid a hand on his shoulder. "You are the son of the legendary Hiraka Shrak. Even he had not fought at Centauri Prime itself. If he's still alive, your father would be proud of you."

Hayato Shrak stood up straight. "Yes, Fleet Chaplain."

The holotank's outline flashed red momentarily. That meant that the enemy was now in weapons range.

"Fire missiles and launch the first wave of _Blazing Stars_," ordered the admiral.

Missiles shot forth from all the ships in the combined armada. Hunter-killers flew from all Orieni ships capable of carrying them. This particular class of hunter-killers, called _Blazing Stars_, was small fighters piloted by artificial intelligence, though they could be remote-controlled. Although they could fight like fighters with their laser guns, their primary use was similar to the kamikaze fighters used by the island nation-state of Japan in one of Earth's wars, but without risking the life of any living pilot.

The missiles weaved their various ways into the Sinhindrea fleet and smashed into shields where they still held and into the few hulls that were exposed. More missiles were already following from the Orieni, Rogolons and Red Monks into the side of the Sinhindrea fleet.

Meanwhile, the hunter-killers sought viable targets, their forward-swept wings spitting plasma fire to clear their way. Several of them found a Sinhindrea gun ship whose shields had collapsed but was still fighting. They dove for it and slammed into its hull. Being filled with explosive material, they instantly detonated. The metal stern part of the gun ship cracked apart and the gun ship's power core went critical, crumbling the ship like tinfoil before dying in a blinding explosion.

Elsewhere, a hunter-killer sought out a Sinhindrea fighter, slammed into its shields, causing it to veer out of control. A _Vorchan_ cruiser seized the opportunity by blasting it apart with laser bolts.

Hayato could see how much those energy protection bubbles protected the Destroyers' vessels. He could also see that for some reason, the Destroyers were ignoring the hunter-killers. They apparently preferred to focus on vessels with living crewmen. She believed that this was a tactical error on their part, one she would exploit. The enemy relied on those energy bubbles far too much and for good reason but they had to be brought down if the Destroyers were to be destroyed.

The admiral also noticed that at least four Centauri cruisers had their own energy protection bubbles, if comparatively weaker, and sported much more advanced and powerful weapons. That spoke of a technological breakthrough for the Royal Navy. Intelligence agents in the All-Seeing Eye of the Blessed had not gotten wind of this development. At any other time, Hayato and the Hand of the Blessed would have reason to worry. But not now. Every little bit helped. But later, this new development would have to be examined most vigorously. They could not be allowed to keep that technology and when they were properly trained, they would understand that.

"Order the Red Monks to close in. Have them and the Rogolons clear the enemy fighters."

The smaller Rogolon ships and fighters almost immediately sped forward, followed closely by the larger and lumbering silver-grey flattened cylinders of the capital ships. A feudal nation despite being in space for centuries, the Rogolons sought honor and glory in personal combat. So they were often detrimental to fleet engagements since this concept of combat meant little to no team work. However, as long as a commander knew how to use them, they were useful for sweeping aside enemy fighters. Other unscrupulous commanders often used them as cannon fodder, though. Which was why Hayato sent in the Red Monks along with them.

Soon, the faster Rogolon ships were already deep within the battle zone, too often surrounded by enemy vessels. In the holotank, Hayato and Hwi could see that the cannons of the Rogolon capital ships appeared to be firing without coordination. They knew it was due to the fact that each individual cannon was operated by an individual Rogolon Knight seeking his own target.

"Sir, _Garantha_ is taking fire."

Hayato clicked his beak. Already? That was the Rogolon flagship. He looked for it in the holotank and found it beginning to penetrate the thickest part of the battle. He saw that he did not need to give orders to assist the _Garantha_ as Red Monk fighters and warships were already flocking to cover it.

The Red Monk fighters were striped like a stone with small red accents. Shaped like horseshoes with a pointed arch, their main guns were on thin wings. They were already deep into the battle, making an accounting of themselves despite the green explosions that signaled some of their deaths. The Red Monk cruisers, colored like a dark grey mottled stone, each had a main body shaped like a pointed snake head. Pylons curved behind the main body like a pretzel with small fins at the rear. More advanced than Orieni ships due to the Red Monks enjoying a proximity to the Vorlons similar to that of the Minbari though not as advanced or powerful, their capital ships sported particle beams.

Now those beams were making themselves felt against Sinhindrea shields.

And now Sinhindrea plasma weapons soared at the Orieni fleet in addition to the Rogolons and Red Monks. Rogolon ships began to shatter and be crushed despite Red Monk assistance due to being deep within the Sinhindrea fleet. The flak arrays of all the Orieni capital ships created a veritable storm of metal to break up and block the onrushing plasma comets. The smaller ships, however, didn't have that rudimentary protection.

"_Ardent Prayer_ destroyed!" shouted a paladin.

"Keep _Ascendant Justice_ close to us," ordered Hayato. He wanted the Red Monk flagship to provide cover for _Flame of Purity_.

Meanwhile, more missiles and hunter-killers launched while the energy and kinetic guns continuously spat at the Sinhindrea. The space between the combined Orieni fleet and the Sinhindrea filled with energy bolts, beams and shells. Explosions bloomed here and there as fighters died. Shields glowed and hulls buckled. Faster ships from both sides danced while capital ships lumbered for superior positions.

"_Vorlon Fury_ is taking fire! _Luminous Mercy_ moving in to assist!"

Hayato nodded in satisfaction. He would hate losing Strike Admiral Irekka Korsh.

The bridge suddenly drowned in light. As the light faded, Hayato and Hwi realized that one of their capital ships nearby had just died. Pieces of the ship's remains were disintegrating into nothingness in the coldness of space. In moments there was nothing left.

"That was _Triumphant Declaration_!" yelled a paladin.

Hayato bowed his head, feather crest drooping in momentary mourning. Commodore Irak Rek was a friend. Too many of their fighter's plasma balls had plowed through his ship's flak storm. A direct shot from the one Sinhindrea battleship burned through _Triumphant Declaration_ defenses as if they weren't there.

Hayato looked up, newly determined. Faith and devotion in battle required sacrifice-especially against First Ones. He accepted that as a forgone reality

Now, what were the Centauri doing?

_**Imperial City, Centauri Prime**_

In the underground war room deep beneath the Royal Palace, the arrival of the Orieni armada was observed with keen interest and concern. Knonto Denarri, Regent of the Centauri Republic, had wondered whether his speech earlier had convinced the Orieni commanders to throw their lot in with the Centauri against the Sinhindrea. Well, he wouldn't know for certain until the end of the battle.

The armored door leading into the war room slid aside. Minister Virini came in carrying a gold tray on which sat a bottle of brivari and several cut crystal wineglasses. Durla, the Captain of the Royal Palace Guards, quickly scanned Lord Virini with a handheld device. He nodded acceptance and Virini stepped in between the computer banks and set the tray on a table. He proceeded to pour the brivari into the stemmed wineglasses.

Battle was a thirsty business.

Normally, a servant would do this but servants were not allowed in the war room in times of war, especially during this particular battle. Even more so with the antagonistic telepathic interference of the Sinhindrea.

Since the Sinhindrea came out of hyperspace, the madness affecting the planet had subsided drastically. Denarri supposed he should be thankful for such small favors, but that was cold comfort for the damages already wrought upon Centauri Prime in addition to the mental backlash against the Centauri telepaths in the Sinhindrea retaliation. So much had burned, like the Great Imperial Museum in Camulodo, all gone. Blood stained the canals of Yandantrio and the streets of other cities. So much fire, death, pain, and destruction and the aliens hadn't yet stepped foot on Centauri Prime.

Denarri's hopes rose when Lord Nanrillo Mareau's flotilla executed the infamous Minbari jump point maneuver. They had visibly hurt the Sinhindrea. But it was not enough, not nearly enough.

Denarri ordered Lord Tavastani, the Royal Guardsman Elite, to prepare what guardsmen remained on duty for a possible enemy invasion. The Royal Court was still not sure whether the Sinhindrea would invade or commence orbital bombardment. Who could know what the enemy intend to do with Centauri Prime? So far, they had destroyed every world they came across except for Minbar which they had indeed invaded.

Virini, having finished pouring, held up the ornate gold tray. The regent noticed that the tray trembled slightly, causing the wineglasses to clink softly on the gold. The aging Minister of Court Protocols was always a flighty man and always had difficulties hiding his feelings. That was why Denarri liked him. Though clearly experienced in the Great Game, if his survival of Cartagia's regime was any indication, Lord Milo Virini would not play that game with the regent. Denarri picked a wineglass and laid a hand on Virini's shoulder, visibly calming him.

Immediately, the regent drank the brivari deeply. He needed it to take the edge off the stress he had been feeling all through this battle.

Dromo, Durano and Tavastani took wineglasses and sipped. The task of proffering the brivari done, Virini took a glass for himself. Together, they watched and studied the battle raging on different viewers grouped on a wall. Centauri, Orieni, Rogolon, Red Monk and Sinhindrea ships and fighters battled hard. Once in a while, a viewer showed a _Vorchan_ coming out of a jump point and diving into the battle to add its firepower to the Grand Fleet.

_**Albius**_

Admiral Sela was surprised to see the new alien armada arrive. She could see that her Centauri crew was just as surprised or even more so. From her understanding, it was as if a terrible enemy menaced the Federation and after a century of silence, the Romulans suddenly came to the Federation's rescue. Simply not expected. But it gave her command a quick breather to redress themselves.

Even illogical, as a Vulcan might say.

The _Albius_ shook at a glancing blow at one of her wings. That reminded Sela that there was still a battle to fight. The view on the main viewscreen swirled past as her ship and squadron turned, disruptor beams spearing the offending Sinhindrea fighter.

On a tactical screen, Sela could see flattened cylindrical warships diving deep into the Sinhindrea line. Brave, but foolish.

"Lieutenant, open a channel to the Regent."

The lieutenant manning the communications station said, "Yes, Admiral." He turned to focus on his console, studiously ignoring the bloodied body of the lieutenant he had replaced earlier on the deck.

Sela ordered one of the junior officers to remove the body

Sela was pragmatic, but never a fool. Q had dragged her here for a reason other than that foolish excuse he used to place her here and she believed she knew why. There was another truth that she had to confront. In her reality it was quite possible that the Romulan Star Empire of her reality, at least a large portion of it had been decimated by the Borg and the Cylon Empire. The remainder of the empire was very likely wedded to the Klingons and Federation in their fight for survival. That much Q had gloated to her as she suffered in prison under the tender mercies of the mad Cartagia. In fact, while she was being beaten, he whispered details about a mad entity called Iblis who was responsible for the Cylon enhancements using a badly damaged T'kon Service computer to turn primitive robots into something that could eventually threaten the Borg. That was the reason why higher-level entities were so hated by everybody. Q tried to break her, make her suffer even more than she was under Centauri torture.

In that other time line, Sela had considered her mother's actions as a betrayal of her father. She foiled her mother's plans and Tasha was executed and why did her mind force her to go over this time and time again at this critical moment?

The execution of her mother was a justified action in the four year-old's mind. It was a lifetime ago, or maybe just a few minutes depending as to how she felt. All of those feelings were once successfully submerged right until she was stuck in this reality. Again, she cursed the entity called Q for all she was worth and deep inside of herself she was sure he heard her and was laughing. Oh, how she hated him, even more than her 'mother'. All of those feelings came bursting forth the second she saw the younger version of her mother looking at her as if she was some type of freak – or traitor. If they could have strangled one another in that moment, they would have.

Phasers, set on stun, was a convenient tool.

The question that be continually haunted her why did he hate her so, or was it something else?

Consequently, those questions had pulled her back to Centauri Prime after Cartagia's death. Those answers that she was seeking were here and not on _La Barre_ or the _Babylon_ station. She was one of those people who had to be away from the focus of the problem to think properly. She needed time and space to adjust, hence her acceptance of the post as envoy to Centauri Prime. In other words, she was running and she knew it, just as she knew that she would have to confront her 'mother' and settle matters once and for all. Tasha Yar was 'not' her mother. Romulans were passionate but also practical and Sela was no exception. Picard wasn't the Picard she knew, either.

It was the right place, she mused, but at the wrong time. Being trapped on a planet about to be invaded by aliens that for some insane reason lived only to destroy, didn't promote much time for self-reflection yet her she was moaning over the past. Ruthlessly the Romulan part of her, aided by her Human passions crushed those thoughts. Survival was considered by her to be far more important at this moment.

To her dismay and contempt however, there were some who were more interested in petty politics than living the next few hours. Their politics, so much like plays of power at home, were called by the Centauri, the 'Great Game'. Minister Durano apparently focused so much on the game that he forgot the ultimate purpose of it. In truth, that was a common failing in most cultures and she had to admit that although her father had trained her well, she sometimes had fallen into that same trap. She had learned from her failures and as such she had no intentions of losing her focus on the problems in front of her. If they were going to survive this attack then what she needed now was information.

Turning, she asked one of her lieutenants about the capabilities of the Orieni. Responding quickly, he began with a concise history of the aliens now attacking the Sinhindrea.

"The Orieni are an expansionist species. We Centauri met them during the time of the second Renaissance. Our empire was only at half strength due to, let us say, a reorganization of our Republic priorities."

The way he has said 'priorities' made Sela understand that there had probably most likely been a civil war in the Centauri Republic, something that she would read up on, and that war had likely damaged much of the Centauri political power structure of the Centauri.

She nodded her understanding and the man continued.

"The Orieni saw us as a threat and tried to dominate us. To them we were nothing but an obstacle meant to be overcome because we didn't believe as they did. They practically worshiped the Volons. We barely knew who they were," he admitted. "We would not be overcome. My government tried to negotiate with them; they didn't listen. Continued incidents eventually turned into a full war. They had the advantage of superior numbers and a more warfare-oriented culture, but we will better tacticians, and our economic and industrial structure was far more efficient than theirs. The war took on the savagery of his own and during the holocaust that followed, several species such as the Otaki, the Arkatans, the Phalonaki, and the Xothanis were wiped out. We will to survive we had to use everything within our power to do so. Nuclear weapons as well as mass drivers we used on planets to stop their advances.

"They were the ones who use those weapons first," he quickly added. "After several years of bloody fighting we were able to push the Orieni advance back. Both sides were exhausted and neither could effectively continue the war, so there has been an uneasy peace between our two nations but we are still in a state of war with them although no shots fired in almost two decades." The man smiled slightly hysterically. "We've been more concerned about the Narns that we have been with them," he muttered. "That may have been perhaps a mistake on our part, considering that they are here as well."

"So you are, in essence in a state of cold war with the Orieni," Sela surmised. The Centauri nodded. "Do you believe they are definitely here to attack you?" she asked dubiously.

"It's the most likely probability. I can't see their coming here as a friendly gesture. The war affected us both badly. The Centauri were tired of war and for a time we were interested only in peaceful interactions with our neighbors." Sela merely raised an eyebrow. The lieutenant continued, not noticing her reaction/ "We have had reports that they were building up a fleet capable of overwhelming us and I believe that there were plans to investigate, but we haven't had any really reliable reports in the past few years, like so many other things we began to ignore them. Apparently that was a mistake."

"Apparently," commented Sela dryly.

Sela's mind was racing now. This was apparently a war-oriented culture that opposed the Centauri but at the same time they were attacking the Sinhindrea lines with abandon. Logically, if they will really here to attack the Centauri they would have just merely backed off and allowed the Centauri to be destroyed instead of having the pleasure of doing it themselves. However they will all but ignored the Centauri and had immediately attacked the Sinhindrea.

"Look at them," Sela said to her bridge crew. "They're throwing everything they have at the enemy regardless of cost. They're not here for you; they're here specifically to attack the Sinhindrea." Something her father said long ago flashed across her mind and se barely suppressed a smile that never reached her eyes. "The enemy of my enemy is nothing more, she whispered. "Help them to help us…"

There was a soft interruption as another lieutenant called for her attention.

"Channel opened, Admiral," the lieutenant said. He had heard her musing and approved of what he thought she meant. His voice was tinged with something she had never heard from him before.

Respect.

Regent Denarri and the others had already come to the same conclusions concerning the Orieni. Jump points were still opening allowing hundreds of ships to come through. Most impressive were the six super carriers that immediately launched thousands of fighters and bombers. The Orieni crusade fleet saluted carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers of all classifications. Those ships were supported by frigates, gunships and there were even armored troop carriers bringing up the rear. It was obvious to absolutely everyone that these people had come here for a fight and not with just the Sinhindrea.

Many of the Centauri generals had been both touched and appalled. The numbers of ships presented by the enemy indicated that it was nothing less than invasion fleet and no one had any doubts as to where that fleet was heading specifically, to Centauri Prime. The Regent's observation concerning the numbers of Orieni ships suggested strongly believed that the Centauri would not have repelled the initial assault. The question to be asked was why hadn't they waited until the Sinhindrea had decimated Centauri forces first?

"Still no response from the Orieni command."

"Keep trying to contact them."

The Orieni fighters were first to engage the Sinhindrea ships including the two huge transports. Sinhindrea capital ships flared brightly lasers, project ordinance, and plasma beams impacted upon the shields. Nuclear ordnance slammed into energy shields causing the entire area to brighten the light.

The Orieni had attacked the transports and heavy support ships that had not yet engage the Centauri. Now those vessels, including the transports, turned their wrath upon the offending vessels. Three of the huge ball ships slowly turned to face forces attacking them from behind. Small and medium-size squid ships detached from those vessels, and headed directly for the heart of the forces attacking them.

One of the ball ships glowed brightly propulsive energy shot and connected briefly with one of the six super carriers. The carrier's armor did nothing to slow down attack as the plasma energy burned from stem to stern. The carrier blew apart even as the plasma ate every bit of the ship's remains. Shocked by the ease of the carrier's loss, the crusade fleet increased the fire against the transports and the heavy battle ships bearing down on them.

A short beeping sounded from one of the computers in the war room. The guardsman manning it said, "Regent, Admiral Sela is requesting communication with you."

The regent nodded. "Put her onscreen."

The blonde Romulan appeared on the main viewer. Light smoke drifted above and behind her. "_Your Excellency, _how long before we can address our lines?"

"We need ten minutes minimum," he answered. She nodded. That was her estimate as well. "If we have that much time we can be ready. Other forces are arriving from the outlying areas even as we speak. Those forces will be added to the front lines when they come out as again we will attack."

"_The enemy of my enemy is my enemy nothing more, nothing less,"_ Sela announced.

It was an old saying. That was true but it had never lost its potency or the underlying reasons behind it.

"Interesting saying." Denarri thought about that for a few seconds and his smile was vicious. "If they aid us in our cause intentionally or not, so much the better. I am ordering our ships to press the attack. We have them in a pincher movement."

Her eyes were bright with determination. _"No,"_ she said, countermanding the Regent. Several of the generals inside the room were enraged that she would dare speak in such a manner. However, before anyone could say anything else, she continued_. "Your forces are ragged and need time to redeploy into a function defensive line,"_ she said with a sense of urgency. "M_ay I suggest a strategy?"_

Denarri smiled thinly. He was curious to hear what the alien had to say. "Feel free."

Sela gave a curt nod as her ship, the _Albius_, shook under enemy fire as it dodged weapons fire from a duet of fighters determined to destroy her ship._ "We need to regroup and affect on-site repairs. The Orieni have given us the opportunity to do that."_

Grand Admiral Dromo said, "You mean pull back from the battle?"

"_Yes, Admiral."_

"Since they're here and so eager to fight let these Orieni give us breathing room."

Her statement has stopped the Centauri in their tracks. Denarri and the others looked at the alien woman as if she had grown a second pair of those exotic ears. But none could say that the idea didn't have a great deal of merit. It was excellent, really as the Orieni were no friends of the Centauri. Indeed, they had most likely had come here to attack Centauri Prime and if it hadn't been for the fact that the Sinhindrea were already here, would have already done so. The overall logic of the situation forced him to only one conclusion. They also had most likely come to attack his home. Now however, they would now serve a greater purpose.

_Let them bleed._

He had just given he order to support the Orieni, but this suggestion changed everything.

Dromo and Tavastani looked at Denarri. Intelligence Minister Durano continued to watch the raging battle. Virini began to bite his fingernails as he watched the conversation with wide eyes. Captain Durla still stood at attention at the armored door. Denarri turned to another guardsman.

"Contact Lord-General Marrago."

"At once, Regent."

After a moment, the main viewer split in two allowing Jorah Marrago appear beside Sela. For some reason, there was a black stationary blotch near Marrago's head marring the view. Obvious battle damage.

"Lord-General, Admiral Sela recommends that we take advantage of the Orieni distraction to pull back and regroup."

Marrago frowned. _"I would advise that we continue to fight. With the Orieni and their allies in the battle, the Sinhindrea's attention is divided. Together, we can wear them down and convince them that the price of attacking Centauri Prime is too high."_

Sela countered, defending her position._ "Too many of our ships are heavily damaged. Too many of the crews are tired. We need to pull back and regroup. Repair wherever we could. When we are ready, we can get back into the fight. With our incoming ships, we'd be stronger than we are now and the Sinhindrea would be bleeding from the Orieni attack."_

Marrago's frown deepened.

"The Romulan has a point," Dromo put in. "If we keep fighting with damaged ships and exhausted crews, our line could break at some point."

Sela nodded. _"As I understand it, the Orieni are your enemy. Oh, they're helping us now, but they and your people are not allies. Let them fight the Sinhindrea, bleed them dry. When they are done, we will come in to pick up the pieces and finish off the Sinhindrea. As you've said, more of our warships are still arriving. Regrouping would let us utilize the fresh ships in the fleet."_ A corner of her mouth pulled up in a small half-smile. _"That's what Romulans would do. Let them exhaust each other. It has preserved the Romulan Empire's military strength over the centuries and kept Romulus ascendant. That's why the Federation respects our strength."_

Denarri saw that Dromo was agreeing with Sela. Tavastani appeared thoughtful with a hand stroking his chin, but he nodded when the regent looked at him. Durano showed nothing but his fabled poise. Virini muttered about his complete lack of experience with military matters and drank more brivari. Marrago continued to appear skeptical. The regent remembered that in his speech, he requested anyone to come help the Centauri. The Orieni answered that call.

Durano acted like a thought had just occurred to him and he said, "The Treaty of Seliffe has stipulations against the Orieni sending any warship into Centauri space. Their fleet is a powerful one and that means their empire is strong again. It shows they are not really worried about the treaty anymore." He shrugged. "Normally, we can't have that. However, their help is welcome. For now."

Denarri remembered part of Lady Morella's prophecy: _"Our people hang suspended over a precipice. One person, one word can send us toppling over, or pull us back. Our doom is upon us, but it may yet be averted, even in the few hours we have left._

_There shall be fire, bloodshed and chaos, and the fulfillment of a dream's ending. The Centauri people have sinned. We have consumed worlds for our vanity, enslaved peoples for our service, destroyed dreams for our own whims. Now, our punishment for these deeds is at hand._

_For good or for ill, it will end soon. Our world will either die in fire, beneath the shadow of Death, or it shall rise from the ashes like a phoenix to become something new and refreshed, the sins of the old world cast off and atoned for."_

Emperor Turhan's widow had said that the choice rested with him.

Denarri did not want all this to end in fire.

He came to a decision. "Pull back but stay between Home world and the enemy. Repair as much as possible while the Orieni distract the Sinhindrea. When the Orieni are almost at the point of victory or defeat, we will return to the battle. Admiral Sela will help cover the strategic retreat. Our fighters and _Aquila_ destroyers will provide cover fire. The planetary defense grid will remain active."

Marrago said, _"Without us, it's more likely the Orieni will die."_

Privately, Denarri agreed, but he said, "Perhaps. They should have remembered the Treaty of Seliffe. They continually refuse to speak to us. That is not an encouraging sign from a once enemy. If they die, it's their own fault. It's in the hands of the Great Maker. Carry out my orders."

"_At once, Regent."_

"_Yes, Excellency."_

"Confirm that my last order was countermanded, superseded by this command. Have all of our ships redress our lines and stay out of the fighting. All critically damaged ships move behind the front lines but order them to be prepared to fight for home with everything they have if the enemy break through the Orieni."

He turned and looked at Sela and nodded at the alien with the pointed ears, once more contemplating why she had actually come back to Centauri Prime in the first place. It wouldn't be the first time that the Centauri used aliens as mercenaries. The Dilgar Imperium was once a source of mercenaries in the Centauri military, after all. This female however had hidden depths and despite the situation they were in, he was curious.

_Very curious and very intriguing, indeed._

The main viewer returned to the views of the battle. Already, several Centauri warships were turning away from the Sinhindrea while fighters beat a fighting retreat.

Denarri poured more brivari into his glass and drank deeply again. For some reason, the taste was bitter.

"May the Great Maker have mercy on us," he murmured under his breath.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Carycomic: As action-packed as usual. But, I still don't get these Orieni. Are they a race of o.c.'s like the Sinhindrea, or what?**_

_**These aliens are a species that were in a war against the Centauri long, long ago. They fought each other to a basic stalemate. The Orieni is an empire consisting of the Rogolons, the Red Monks, the Orieni race and several client races that the Orieni have either subjugated or intimidated into subservience. They serve the Lords of Order (Vorlons) and are quite obsessive about turning other races into believers.**_

_**The Red Monks were seen in the B5 series (they attacked the B5 station and were widely believed to be the ones who sent the probe to test and them blow up B5 if the had proven to be too advanced). The Orieni themselves are - semi-canon- and by that I mean they are acknowledged the creator of B5 but were never seen or mentioned in the series. Therefore to me, they are NOT canon, but semi-canon. It is the same with Yonji Sinhindrea. The 3rd space aliens are pure canon. The name I invented for them here is not.**_

_**More Sela in the next chapter.**_

_**Again, a big heartfelt thank you to RenS for this section. I did change some stuff sir and added a few other things so you may want read this as well (smile).**_

* * *

_**A Universe of Change: By Candlelight-Defiance**_

_**Part V**_

_**The Flame of Purity**_

_**Orieni Command Ship **_

The battle plans had been gone over dozens of times, and every ship, every crew member knew what was expected of them.

"Punish the destroyers!" Hwi Rak, First Chaplain of the Great Fleet screeched.

With the order now given, all she had to do was await victory. Gazing at the holo-screen everything was revealed. The execution was, praise Order, perfect. Her forces arrived behind, at the rear of the Great Destroyer's fleet and had attacked.

The Red Monks, as was their right, attacked first firing nuclear missiles lasers and plasma cannons at the five huge targets in front of them. The targeting computer had identified them as likely transport ships but other than that, there was no other information concerning the type of power systems, payloads, or materiel's that the Destroyers might be carrying. The ships were huge, featureless rectangles with four power globes situated underneath the ship , but the prominent blue-white orb located at the rear of the ship screeched 'main power-source'. It was an irresistible target and the pretzel-shaped warships of the Red Monks were so eager to attack that Hwi Rakhadn't needed to issue the order. They knew what they were ordained to do.

Right behind them were the Rogolon Dynasty, their blue cylindrical and rectangular ships adding to the Monk's firepower. Energy blasts, plasma bursts and nuclear missiles splashed against the energy barriers of the transports, the concentrated firepower from dozens of ships were beginning to stress the relatively weak shields of both transports. To the Monks and the Rogolons, it was just a matter of time when those shields fell and the glory of the victory would be theirs. Both groups ignored the three turning Sinhindrea battleships vectoring in on them as they trusted their Orieni allies to keep them busy until they could aid in the glorious victory.

As she continued to stare at the expanding battle she couldn't help noticing that the Centauri were beginning to retreat from the battle proving that they were cowards! They wouldn't even fight for their own home in the face of the destroyers. She would have torn her feathers out in shame to be associated as one of them and when it was over, the Hand of the Blessed would personally burn their shame from them along with most of their world. The Centauri were supposed to fight against the destroyers until the end, not cower behind those who would come to their aid!

Esteemed by her people, the Orieni priest was a powerful telepath, and even from this distance flying through normal space, she could feel the fear of the Centauri cowards as they huddled in their ships too terrified to fight, too terrified to flee. They were once a worthy foe, but now they were nothing. Her two thousand ships prepared for battle clearly proved that they were nothing.

They were slaves of chaos, were less than nothing anyway, and were fundamentally flawed. The commander stared at her fleet pushing its way through the darkness. Any thoughts of the possibility of defeat fled from her mind. There was a war to fight and lack of diligence was just as much an enemy as the creatures out there, which explained itself most eloquently as a trio of Red Monk warships were attacked and destroyed by the ones being called the Sinhindrea. She smarted at the loss. The Sinhindrea, although they were all dead in Hwi Rak's eyes, weren't aware of it yet, so resistance to the inevitable was understandable.

* * *

The extremely aggressive First Ones disliked being flanked and the transports threatened. Their response was immediate and characteristic of any threat present against them. One of the unique characteristics of the Sinhindrea warships was that there were no fighter bays. Instead, the fighters and gunboats were seemingly fused to the ship's hull. The organic, squid-looking vessels 'unglued' themselves from the battleships and rushed the first wave of Red Monk and Rogolon ships attacking the transports. The three ships released a total of forty gunships of various configurations that wasted no time ripping into the Orieni allies. The main bulk of the Orieni moved forward to meet the three battleships head on and the Centauri remained mute witnesses to the entire battle.

_**Flame of Purity-Orieni Imperial Flagship**_

Reshak Kra could not believe his eyes.

But there it was.

It was confirmed. The Centauri were pulling back from the battle. He glanced over his shoulder to see whether Admiral Hayato Shrak saw it, too. Judging by the enraged fluffing of his neck feathers, he had.

"What in the name of the Living Gods are they doing?" Hayato bellowed. "Cowards!"

He jabbed a finger at the icons representing Centauri vessels in the holotank. At first, it was a few ships and he wondered if their commanders were following battle plans. Then more and more ships pulled back away from the thick of the fighting while smaller _Sentris_ fighters intensified their fire to cover the retreating ships.

"Hierophant, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Hwi Rak could sense the anger coursing through the admiral. She had also seen the icons moving away from the Life-Destroyers in the holotank. She clicked her beak with worry. "Yes, Admiral."

"The Centauri condemn themselves with their conduct! They are unworthy to serve the Orieni! They are chaotic! If they do not appreciate our help and they would not stand by us, then we shall leave." Hayato raised his head and took a breath to shout new orders. "We cannot be sure if this is some form of deception," he added carefully. "Perhaps we should have answered their hails and clarified our terms."

"Admiral, they wanted to talk, not surrender their forces to our will. They should have screamed their submission to the Lords of Order," Hwi hurriedly interjected. "The Living Gods decreed that we come to Centauri Prime and fight the Destroyers here. We have obeyed that edict. We are not here to save the chaotic Centauri. We are here to destroy the Destroyers!"

Fire rose in Hayato's eyes rebelliously.

"Yes," answered Hwi Rak. "We must obey. If we do not obey, we lose the Living Gods' favor and they will abandon us. The last time that happened, the Orieni Empire fell and we had to rebuild almost from scratch. We must not let that happen again. Let the Centauri do as they wish and when this is finished, they will pay the price of all those who defy the will of the Living Gods. They are cursed of all of the people that live," she hissed. The admiral ground his beak in frustration but there were no more objections. Sensing victory, the Fleet Chaplain added, "I will inform the Council of the Blessed as soon as we can establish communication lines with Orien. Until then, we obey the Living Gods. Please, ignore the Centauri for now for their sins will burn them when the time comes."

After a moment, Hayato finally nodded acceptance. "Very well, Hierophant. When this is over, may the Living Gods have mercy on the Centauri, because I will not."

Hwi Rak was silent.

_**Pious Inferno-Orieni Frigate**_

Commander Korsh Karaka watched as a second Sinhindrea gunship die under his squadron's guns. The Life-Destroyers had been caught unaware at their flanks, but they were hard to kill. A quick glance at his sensor readout told him all he needed to know. The Destroyers were ignoring the hunter-killers for some reason despite the havoc they were wreaking on the fighter and gunship analogs. Losses were well below what was expected against an enemy that were essentially First Ones but then, that would quickly change as soon as they turned their full attention to the capital ships themselves.

One of the three huge Clovien warships finally died under intense combined firepower from one of the Orieni capital ships and its seven Orieni-Red Monk cruiser escorts. They were tough ships and died taking many of their adversaries with them. Five of the escorts had been destroyed before the clam-shaped warship's shield broke and the ship smashed. Instead of exploding like the globe ships, the Clovien crumpled in upon itself as the energies fed upon it until there was nothing left.

Opening his beak slightly with joy, Karaka turned to his communications officer. "Send my personal congratulations to Strike Admiral Irekka Korsh on the _Vorlon Fury_. The Living Gods indeed favor y—"

Fire instantly erased Korsh as Sinhindrea plasma plowed into his ship.

_**Royal Knife- Rogolon Assault Cutter**_

Knight Galyath looked around the cramped confines of the boarding cutter's main bay. The _Baroon_-class assault cutter was little more than a flying grappling claw with a troop compartment and the necessary control and power systems added on. Under-armed, vulnerable and fragile, the _Baroon_ was not a place to be caught in a full-scale fleet engagement but this mission took precedence. To capture a ship of the First Ones would be the most glorious of achievements. It would be difficult but not impossible. They were Rogolon those who excelled in the difficult.

Galyath turned his attention to the warriors under his command. The sight of fifty Rogolon Knights armed with swords, axes, kinetic pistols, and clad in full silver armor filled Galyath's heart with pride. The knights prided themselves in being able to fight and win in any atmospheric condition.

His helmet microphone chimed. It was the cutter's commander. _"We're closing on our target."_

That meant boarding was imminent. Galyath said, "Gratitude, Commander."

He bent forward to peer out of the only porthole in the troop bay. Dead ahead and closing rapidly was his target, a Sinhindrea frigate with its shields down and its thrusters destroyed. Defensive plasma fire sleeted past the speeding cutter. A fellow cutter was caught full on by a plasma blast and was instantly vaporized, but the surviving four boarding ships sped on. Galyath turned to address his troops.

"Knights of Rogola, we are about to engage the enemy in close combat, we are the Knights of Rogola and the Dynasty. His Majesty, Monarch Kon Varsh will shower us with his gratitude. None can stand in our way. _For honor and glory!"_

"_For honor and glory!"_ replied the massed warriors.

'_By the Lords of Order, this was exciting!'_ Galyath thought.

Seconds later, the four _Baroons_ slammed into the port side of the Sinhindrea frigate's metal stern. Grappling claws punched deep into the severely weakened hull just before the cutters extended umbilical corridors to achieve hard seals. Immediately afterwards, the thermal charges cleared holes in the enemy hull. It took several charges but to Knight Galyath's exultation, they were successful. The enemy would most certainly be aware of the incoming attack but it didn't matter. The knights were coming!

Onboard his _Baroon,_ Knight Galyath took a deep breath in preparation to yell his challenge to the Sinhindrea crew for personal combat. He could see most of the other knights doing the same. To challenge and defeat a First One in personal combat would allow the victor unending glory. Even if he were maimed in the process he would be revered forever by his people, his empire and his gods and for that he intended to achieve victory over his foe whatever the cost. And the added benefit if the knights managed to capture the Sinhindrea gunship intact, they could analyze its technology, even use it against the Life-Destroyers! This was a glorious time to be alive!

The hatch slammed down and a gelatinous fluid came rushing into the cutter out of the Sinhindrea ship, flooding the troop bay completely. The stunned Knights found themselves trying to move through the thick liquid. The liquid crashed into the secured blast doors of the _Baroon_ and quickly submerged the bays. One of the Rogolon ships broke away as the heavy fluid ruptured the seals and that ship moved off trying to maneuver. Although their environmental combat suits protected them from the fluid, the knights felt like insects trying to move through thick syrup.

* * *

Knight Galyath struggled against the liquid dragging him and the others wherever it chose to move. No one had anticipated this and as such were completely unprepared. It was pitch black inside the bay now and even the enhanced visor set on maximum barely penetrated the intense darkness. His commander was yelling for his knights to maintain control and prepare for incoming. To his growing irritation Galyath and his group hadn't even made it to the seal before being forced back by the almost hot flood of liquid that had push them back into his own bay. There was something coming, that much he could hear as it scrapped the metallic flooring and walls searching… Serrated tentacles lashed through the hatch from the squid-shaped frigate, unhindered by the thick fluid environment. Jabbing fangs followed.

A knight yelled a pain-filled warning into his person communicator as something grabbed him. To the knight's credit he had managed to free his pistol and tried to shot at whatever it was that had grabbed and was now crushing his leg. The kinetic pistol clicked but with the electronics damaged the weapon wouldn't operate. The yelling turned into manic screaming. There was another high pitched scream from another fellow knight which quickly turned into a desperate gurgling noise.

Knight Galyath wanted to berate them both for their loss of professionalism. Even in death they were knights of Rogolon! However, there was a part of him that agreed that primal fear as his own panic tried to dominate him. His hand weapons were useless since he could barely lift let alone swing his own axe or knife. A shockwave buffeted him as a pulse grenade compressed the fluid around him. That was when the concerted screaming from dozens of knights overloaded his communication. They were being ripped apart by things they couldn't see. Someone screamed about his arm being ripped off before he too went silent. Galyath clamped onto his grenade. He wasn't going to be killed by something he couldn't see. He activated the grenade just after something sliced his abdomen wide open. His armor had done absolutely nothing to protect him further, the liquid was so hot he felt like it was burning. Almost mindless with pain he heard the final warning of his grenade before it went off still attached to his chest. He thought it was a most wonderful sound.

* * *

The Rogolon frigate escort the lone _Baroon_ cutter away from the targeted Sinhindrea warship picked up huge amounts of communications traffic from the knights they were now incapable of helping. At first, panicked voices filled the short-ranged communications and then the knights began to scream. There were the sounds of flesh and bone being ripped apart coming from the microphones. Weapons fired uselessly inside the now fluid-filled bay. There were explosions. The screams lessened and within moments there was only static from the radios. Both the frigate and the damaged _Baroon_ moved off rapidly towards the safety of what was left of the fleet.

_**Flame of Purity- fifteen minutes into the battle:**_

"The Destroyers are tearing us apart!" said Hayato. Pain filled him as he watched icon after icon blink out from the holotank. The Centauri retreat was costing the Orieni heavily. Without the Centauri to keep them preoccupied, the Sinhindrea were able to turn their full attention to the Orieni, Rogolons and Red Monks. More and more plasma fire burned into capital ships and cruisers.

His eyes drifted to the icon of the massive Sinhindrea battleship. The trailing balls of plasma that ship spewed were massively overpowered, their beam weapons were even worse, and as such posed a severe threat to every ship in Hayato's fleet. Without the Centauri cowards helping to defend their own world, the Orieni fleet would soon be cut down under its firepower.

Hayato Shrak, son of the legendary Hiraka Shrak, was not about to let this battle be in vain. "All units, move in closer to the Destroyers."

"Closer?" gasped Hwi Rak.

"Yes, closer," confirmed Hayato. He turned back to the paladins manning the bridge stations. "If we retreat now, they will tear what's left of the fleet apart! It would take us too long to power up the jump engines and defend ourselves at the same time! Order all units to move as close as they can and engage the Life-Destroyers at point-blank range."

"At that range, we can't survive more than a few minutes against their capital ships." Hwi wondered for a moment whether Hayato was being suicidal and bringing the entire fleet down with him but a quick look in his mind dispelled that notion. She realized now that he was trying for a quick victory and by time for some of the lesser elements to flee.

"Us jumping into hyperspace will provide those globe ships easy targets," he repeated. "If the Centauri cowards were close enough I would have ordered the fleet to head towards them and 'force' them into battle. But we have no choice. The Destroyers have a range we can't match. We have to break them now, as soon as possible. They won't risk firing their main guns if we're close enough to see their eyes. If they do…they will destroy a few of their own, bettering our odds against them."

The Orieni warships' thrusters burned brighter as the fleet moved in very close to the Sinhindrea and began to blast away at point-blank range. The faster Red Monks ran interference while the Rogolons, now vastly reduced, continued to fight. Fighters raced just outside the boundary of Sinhindrea shields against a backdrop of energy and kinetic fire.

A Red Monk fighter flew a little too closely, brushed a shield and veered out of control, crashing into a Sinhindrea gunship's shield explosively. Green fire burned around the shield as the fighter disintegrated creating a rapidly fading halo before being snuffed out by the vacuum of space. The gunship returned to the battle, undamaged and undeterred by the flaming death of the Red Monk fighter.

_**Centauri Prime**_

_**Command & Control Central**_

It was a breach of protocol for a lesser to stand next to the Emperor and by extension, the Regent of the Centauri people, as if one were and equal. At the least there was an automatic loss of political station. At the most, in which two unfortunate generals had discovered during the reign of Cartagia, it was an automatic death sentence. But today was an exception as rules were thrown into the wind of desperation. The huge series of screens showing incoming tactical and strategic data dominated every one's attention, from the lowest guard to the most decorated general.

On the left side of the screen bank, white icons representing the surviving Centauri ships were converging towards the redress site, quickly coming together to form a cohesive defense armada preparing for the onslaught of the Sinhindrea warships everyone knew was coming. Several screens above showed Centauri ships and squadrons estimated to arrive in homes defense. Those times ranged from several minutes to several hours depending on distance. The defenses from several planetary systems controlled by the Centauri were being stripped to the bone so that they could and defend home.

Most were _Vorchans_ interspersed with another two dozen or so _Primus',_ which would gladly aid in the defense of home when they arrived. It also indicated the positions of the several thousand Centauri _Sentris_ prepared to rush into the battle. The screen marked in yellow dots where the numbers of Centauri ships had been lost. The far majority of those had been _Sentris_ but far too many had been capital ships either destroyed or damaged beyond the ability to be quickly repaired. Then there were the purple dots, grim indicators of where Centauri ships had simply ceased to exist, the results of being directly struck by enemy plasma weapons. Purple was a dark reminder that there was no possibility of survivors being found.

On the opposite side of the series of screens, The Centauri had very little data on the pretzel-shaped warships of the Red Monks. It was known that they were considered the hand of the Orieni and were considered extremely dedicated to the destruction of their enemies. But no one had ever seen a living member of the species. In act no one had ever retrieved an intact body of a Monk, including the crews on _Babylon Five_.

The Monks had attacked _Babylon Five_ a little more than a year ago for reasons unknown and had gotten their rear ends slapped in the process. Many believed that the probe sent to 'question' the station had been sent by the Red Monks in order to determine the overall intelligence of the people that created the station. The probe had transmitted a series of complex inquiries including questions on physics, cosmology, mathematics, biology, even geography, all questions designed to test to the maximum the knowledge of the people on the former Earth Alliance station. Sheridan and the crew believed that in answering the question the senders of the probe would consider the station to be worthy of First Contact; either that or blow up the station. However, it became apparent that in answering the questions correctly, the creators of the probe considered them a threat, being too advanced, and tried using the probe to blow up the station anyway. That failed and a few weeks later, under the orders of a very arrogant Orieni leadership, the Red monks tried to invade and destroy the station. They were after computer data, information on Earth and Earth Alliance military forces, defenses and the knowledge database as a prelude to invasion. The Orieni couldn't allow such a growing power to exist. The Centauri were already a threat to be neutralized. They didn't need another chaotic species running rampant throughout space. That assault failed spectacularly as station defenses blew them out of space. The station's defense field prevented any direct strikes from getting through. The white ships were terrible in their power. The humiliated enemy fled into the safety of hyperspace with two marginally intact ships.

Unconfirmed by Sheridan and the bridge crew but suspected by absolutely everyone, the Monks swore vengeance for their defeat, however that accounting would have to wait until the destroyers had been dealt with here in the Centauri home system. That was the directive of the First Chaplin. And return to that station they would. The Earther creatures who resembled the Centauri so closely needed to be pacified. Their knowledge was a threat to the order of things and they were certain to become arrogant in that knowledge.

Blue icons of the Orieni fleet began to disappear at a frightening rate as soon as they attacked the Sinhindrea transports. Most were fighter designates that were bloated form the stars by the transport and the immediate squid shaped vessels protecting both transports. However, it quickly became apparent that the transports weren't defenseless either as smaller blue dots simply disappeared in and around the two ships.

On a bank of huge screens in the very center, Centauri probes had real time footage of the battle as it raged. As soon as they came into range, the huge Sinhindrea globe battleship designates began butchering everything within reach with their plasma pulse and beam weapons. Entire formations of Orieni and their allies disappeared in battle. After a couple of minutes, the transports were being mostly ignored now as the battleship designates laid waste to everything within reach, but having committed to this insane action, still they came.

Out of desperation, the remaining five super carriers, huge constructs nearly a kilometer long attacked two Sinhindrea warships head on. Supported by their combat group they concentrated nuclear payloads lasers, plasma beams and particle weapons at one of the vessels, trying to burn through the energy shields. The ferocity of the attack caused the ship's shield to glow blindingly as it bled off unimagined amounts of energy.

Sensing weakness, several formations of Orieni continued their attack against the transports sacrifice themselves in the process, while the carriers continue their battle against the two warships. Suddenly, the shields around one of the transports wavered. The shields began pulsated like a star about to go nova and then suddenly winked out. A moment later, the globe encasing the plasma power supply of the transport rupture. Two milliseconds later, the plasma detonated.

The huge explosion, so powerful that the energy flash-burned the closest carrier, disintegrating it completely, expanded and encompassed three more the carriers and their support ships before they could even attempt to evade it. Of the ships that had attacked the transport, not one of them survived. Three carriers were completely destroyed, ripped apart by the tidal forces of the energy and shockwave that struck him. Smaller ship simply disappeared in the conflagration. Last carrier was very badly damaged but still functional. Most of its forward weapons systems had been destroyed. One of its four docking bays had been completely obliterated, while the other three were severely damaged. Most of the communications arrays were totally destroyed and propulsion was reduced by fifty percent.

The Orieni first offensive lines and heaviest ships had been completely decimated. The surviving vessels of the second offensive wave looked on in shock as the Sinhindrea battleships continued on their attack vector completely undeterred by the massive destructive energy of the transports explosion bathing their ships. Their own energy shields deflected the immense destructive power, effectively preventing the punishing energy from affecting their own vessels. Seconds later, the last super carrier was burned out of space. Hundreds of smaller Orieni fighters and gunboats have been destroyed, or the pilots cooked by the radiation blast. Not one of the Sinhindrea fighters had been affected by the blast and they continue to tear into their Orieni counterparts. In less than twenty minutes, the main elements of the Orieni fleet had been gutted, the survivors in disarray.

The Sinhindrea took advantage of the situation and began tearing into the battleships, destroyers, and frigates that were trying desperately redress their own lines. A few of them even begin to charge the engines and a desperate attempt to escape into jump space.

_**Valerius**_

Marrago watched the viewers and looked through the bridge windows. The Orieni fleet was being decimated in blinding explosions of light and debris. Here, on the _Valerius_, there was no sound of battle because the Centauri had pulled away. The lord-general looked down. The Orieni were losing. _No_, he corrected. They had lost and as soon as they were all dead, the Sinhindrea would turn their attention back towards Centauri Prime. His eyes were full of regret because he feared that his home would be next. This most heinous enemy could be fought but he feared they could not win. Meanwhile, crewmen all around him rushed to complete as many repairs as possible. Bodies were already cleared and put in storage for later proper disposal, if that would ever be possible. With the destruction of the Orieni carriers and the remainder of the armada being increasingly cut down, it would soon be time for the Centauri to return to battle and stop the Sinhindrea from reaching Centauri Prime.

The lord-general slumped in his command chair.

Somehow.

He had not agreed with the order to pull back, but it was his duty to obey. House Marrago served Emperors. It did not make them. Not anymore since the first Lord Marrago centuries past. In fact, the House motto on its coat of arms said, _'We guard the Throne. We do not sit on the Throne.'_

_**Flame of Purity**_

The two armadas blasted away at each other in individual point-blank confrontations. The Rogolon flagship, its back half alive with a series of fires and minor explosions, blasted away a Sinhindrea gunship, destroying it. It continued on past the remains and rammed into an unshielded Tribulation battle-cruiser. The bow crumpled until an explosion ripped from inside the Rogolon warship, swallowing up the Sinhindrea battle-cruiser. When the blast faded away, about half of the forward spines of the cyber-organic battle-cruiser had been broken off. The glowing singularity within spherical power matrix flickered noticeably for a moment, as it continued to function, though at a noticeably reduced brightness. Plasma beams belched forth from the surviving parts of the battle-cruiser.

"Admiral, that was the _Garantha_," said Reshak Kra bleakly.

Hayato smoothed down his feather crest in honor of those who died on that ship. "Target that ship and fire at will."

_Flame of Purity_ poured all of its fire into the damaged battle-cruiser and it was joined its sister capital ship, _Vorlon Fury_. Kinetic shells, laser and plasma bolts dug into the battle-cruiser while the storm of defensive flak rounds broke up a small portion of the enemy plasma fire thrown at the Orieni _Paragon_-class ships. A massive ball of burning plasma erupted from the single _Bane-of-Life_ battleship, plowed through swarms of fighters like they weren't there, annihilating them instantly, continuing on to engulf _Vorlon Fury_. The plasma wrap itself all around the Orieni _Paragon_-class warship until an explosion dispersed it. Instead of the warship, there was nothing but an expanding cloud of burning and glowing debris.

Hayato's knees threatened to buckle.

_Strike Admiral Irekka Korsh_… He shook his head. Later. "Intensify forward firepower! All units, concentrate all fire on that battleship!"

Hwi Rak watched admiral, concern. She had sensed something breaking in his mind just before Hayato suppressed it. She turned to gaze at the massive battleship with the twin power spheres as it expanded due to the Orieni approach. A burning light began to grow from within the Sinhindrea battleship. It was directly in front of _Flame of Purity_.

Hwi Rak, daughter of Supreme Hierophant Khorst Rak, wondered. Had the Living Gods erred or had the Orieni err in their blind faith? Would all of her sins be forgiven for the devotion she had shown to the Light and the Living Gods in this battle?

As the burning light continued to grow, she whispered, "Order from Chaos."

The burning light launched.

For a moment, Hwi thought she heard the flutter of a majestic wing.

"Father…?"

She heard a short sharp _whoosh_, as if someone had blown in her ears. Half a heartbeat later, the deafening roar and the furnace wind came. The deck vanished beneath her feet and a wall smashed her across the face, instantly filling her entire world with white light and then nothing.

_**Centauri Prime**_

"By the Great Maker!" Minister Durano screamed. "We are doomed! How can we fight against that type of power?"

The Regent suppressed the urge to backhand the sniveling coward into unconsciousness just to shut him up. However, he was just as shocked by the force of the explosion and the devastation that it caused to the Orieni fleet. The Sinhindrea had been toying with them, testing their defenses, testing their resolve. It had taken every available ship just to slow the forward light element's advance. If the Centauri couldn't hold back this ancient evil, there was no way that Earth could've done so even with their newly enhanced firepower. The unconfirmed rumors about Earth's demise against these creatures must been true he thought. The continuing destruction of the Orieni fleet served only to a credence to that rumor. If one explosion could destroy so much then how were they supposed to fight against such power?

Even if they were somehow able to defeat these creatures, if their ships were blown up, the devastation and radioactive poison would ruin the entire area around Centauri Prime. The extremely toxic radiation being spewed around the system from just that one explosion proved to be a deadly weapon in and of itself. He knew that the Sinhindrea purposely use this tactic as a very effective deterrent against anybody strong enough to be able to resist them. What chance of victory could there be if everything you try to save is alternately contaminated beyond anyone's ability to repair the damage? In his eyes it was a cowardly however very effective way of destroying enemy morale and effectiveness, a cowardly weapon used most effectively he had to admit. They were monsters.

Thirty minutes.

That was as much extra time the Orieni had given them to reorganize and redress the line. The Orieni well on the defensive now, the ships being vaporized with impunity no matter what defenses they brought to bear against the Sinhindrea. One transport has survived and was still approaching Centauri Prime. This time it was surrounded and protected by not only capital ships but a huge fleet of their smaller squid-like vessels. There would be no stopping them this time. The Regent looked on in despair. Reality was reality and finally he reluctantly gave the order to do what he hated most.

"Prepare the _Profilla_," he said with great resignation and those words hurt more than he imagined. "We will relocate command and control to the second fleet."

"We are abandoning home?" Durano asked. The man's face was a study of absolute terror and after relief. The leader of the Centauri Republic stared at him with utter contempt as the spineless official continued mouthing his foolishness. "We obey most humbly and quickly to your wise decision," the coward said.

The Reagent looked around quickly at the other members in C&C. Most of them had no desire to abandon home (and that's what they were in effect doing), but they had little choice in the matter. They were needed to continue to fight and all of them could see that home was effectively doomed. Orieni weapons, devices that could have given the Centauri pause had proven almost ineffective against the larger capitals. The Centauri did not have the resources to fight against such an enemy…

…Not by themselves.

_**Valerius**_

Marrago watched as a huge explosion engulfed much of the Orieni flagship. He knew that it was the _Flame of Purity_, an upgraded leftover from the Centauri-Orieni War, the only one of its kind to survive that conflict. He watched without emotion as the venerable Orieni ship lost control, veered sideways, flames burning and spurting out of ruptures in her hull, and smashed into the accompanying Red Monk flagship, _Ascendant Justice_. Locked in an embrace, their hulls ruptured as they were eaten from the inside by a firestorm. Almost instantly, they detonated, blowing into countless fiery, still disintegrating fragments.

A guardsman spoke up. "Lord-General, we're getting an open signal."

"A signal?" echoed Marrago for clarification.

"Yes, sir. It's coming from one of the House ships, _Pazuzu_. It's in the open on all channels."

Now much more puzzled, Marrago leaned forward in his chair. That meant everyone in the system would be able to hear whatever is spoken. Several screens on the bridge activated. Marrago knew that similar screens activated everywhere in the Grand Fleet, on Centauri Prime, on the space stations and outposts scattered throughout the home system.

It showed a Centauri woman dressed in a red flowing silk gown bright as fire with long voluminous dagged sleeves and deep slashes in the bodice that showed a darker blood red silk beneath. Around her throat was a gold choker ornamented with a single smooth non-faceted ruby. When the light shone on the ruby, a six-rayed star appeared to shine within. Though slender, the lady had full breasts, a narrow waist and a heart-shaped face. Her skin was smooth and white, unblemished and pale as cream. A gauzy and lacey shawl hung on her bald head, also red, though with gold threads shot through as if to give the impression of a halo. Perhaps that was the intention.

Marrago might have considered her beautiful, but she radiated an aura of darkness that was almost palpable. Behind her hung a banner displaying a perversion of the Imperial Great Seal of the Republic. Instead of the small globe overlaid on eight crisscrossing spears, a red burning eye gazed out while interlocking tentacles writhed from under it. The odd sign was laid upon the Great Seal's usual gold compass rose.

"_Friends, countrymen, fellow citizens of the Great Centauri Republic, lend me your ears. I am Lady Lanfir, the Devoted One of House Laucine. For too long have we hidden in the shadows, awaiting the coming of the True Gods. Now they are here, full of the promises of the dwelling place of the Ancients, the place some of you call the Dark City. You call those we revere Harbingers of Death, Harbingers of the Apocalypse, Lords of Death, Lords of the Realm Beyond and you think them to be the end of all life, the end of everything. But you are wrong. They only wish to help us wake up to the new world and realize the one truth that all races of the universe share: No matter the race, we are all the same. From stardust we came and to stardust we return. In death, we are all equal. The ones you call the Yonji Sinhindrea know this and wish to share their enlightenment with us. They wish only to know our souls, the taste of our thoughts, and share the wisdom of the ages. They wish that we only understand this simple truth. Life is life. Death is only death._

_The old gods have not saved us. Yes, they have failed us. We all have seen death everywhere, therefore you know that the truth must be everywhere. Therefore, death is truth, the final truth, the only truth that is truly universal. That is why the First Ones have all fled this galaxy. They are immortal and they fear the truth of death. They need not fear but they are too attached to their power and their high position in the food chain of the universe. But the truth is known even to them. When they die, they are equal to us, even to the lowest slave among us._

_Sons and daughters of Centauri Prime, join us and cast down the false idols. Join us and cast down those who use the Imperial Throne to hold you in thrall. Join us in casting off the fetters of the old world. Join House Laucine in welcoming the True Gods to our home. They are here to save us from ourselves and share with us true life as long as there is life."_

Lanfir raised a finger. _"Oh, yes…resist and there will be blood. All things die; all things are dust and ashes."_

The screen cut out.

* * *

A dumbstruck Centauri Regent stared at the screen for several seconds and then his voice roared to the next rooms and beyond, shocking everyone around him.

"In the name of the seventeen hells of Centauri Prime, who is that woman_ and what does she want!"_


	6. Chapter 6- book I finale

_**A Universe of Change: By Candlelight-Defiance**_

_**Part VI**_

_**(by Rens)**_

**Imperial City, Centauri Prime**

"Who in the name of all sixty gods is that woman?" he continued to curse. Denarri glared around at the men staring back at him in the underground war room. He slammed a table top. "Somebody tell me! Who—_what_ is House Laucine?"

Durano was already moving, literally rushing to his computer station to input his Intelligence Ministry security clearance codes. Files appeared on the computer screen, its light shining on Durano's impassive face. No one else could see what he was reading. Subtle amusement dawned on his face as Durano read the information. He shut the computer screen down and stood up.

"Regent, it seems that the last time there's any mention of House Laucine was – ironically – during the Centauri-Orieni War. They fought in the war but took advantage of it to establish its power over some worlds from its main base on Correntz. It was one of the treasonous houses that the Royal Navy was forced to exterminate in the aftermath of that war, and the following civil war." He looked up at his leader. "Clearly, someone escaped."

"Okay, so Laucine is a renegade House that survived the Rafani Dynasty's reprisals. What _is_ it?"

"It _was_," Durano emphasized the verb, reflecting his personal belief that such old information may not be the same as could be applied today. "…an ancient royal house dedicated to the destruction of the Republic and all of its supporters."

The room had suddenly gone silent. "Unconfirmed reports show that the Laucines worship dark terrible gods that are not part of any Centauri pantheon and that they sometimes sacrificed sentient beings in rituals designed to feed those gods. The House was a death cult. Which fits what this Lanfir said, I might add."

Now Denarri was confused. "If those gods are the Sinhindrea, how could the Laucines know of them? I was told that the last time the Sinhindrea came into this universe was millions of years ago, before we achieved sentience on Home world."

"It's possible that the Sinhindrea are not the gods that Laucine worshipped two hundred years ago and Lady Lanfir adapted her pantheon to the aliens when they came. There's a theory that these 'gods' inhabit another dimension and their influences bled through into our universe to effect certain vulnerable individuals. Perhaps the first Sinhindrea invasion left…impressions despite whatever the Vorlons did to stop them. Perhaps in a few places, the membranes between universes have been thin since the Vorlons' war against them." Durano shrugged as if it was all academic to him. "From time to time, we hear of stories of odd happenings at the Courtor System and with the recorded disappearance of the Federation warship _Voyager_ and the Klingon vessel and the Minbari ship through some unknown doorway, for a lack of a better term, we have proof. It would not surprise me if House Laucine has a base at Courtor, if indeed this Lanfir shares the same lineage as the Laucines we exterminated. Perhaps they have been hiding out there since their loss of Correntz."

"They should have continued hiding," Denarri growled.

He was uneasy at that. He knew that the Sinhindrea aliens had been continually probing Courtor, apparently obsessed trying to find that dimensional opening. Now, what he was hearing implied that the Sinhindrea had collaborators in this universe, impossible as that was. Oh, there were unwitting agents like that Minbari war-leader he heard about, the one called Shakiri, but agents who knowingly assisted the Sinhindrea? That count not be condoned!

Durano continued. "At any rate, House Laucine was not the only death cult known in the Imperial Secret Service files. Similar secret death cults exist among the other races, like the Abbai Bauline Trilogy, the Brakiri Dagohn's Chosen, the Drazi Tek'rakkan Monks, the pak'ma'ra Ftaghn Po'ka, the Human Eyes of Azathoth, Yoggite Principles and the Red Masks of Vice-Ares. It's not clear but it's highly possible that a cult exists among even the Minbari, called Muar'ul. They are all small and all fatalists. The description of their gods appears similar to the Sinhindrea. They believe that the galaxy would one day be scoured clean of all life. There are hundreds of different rationalizations for this worship. Some hold that the only way all creatures could be truly equal was in death. Others believe in some great paradise that awaits them after death, better and much more universal than any and all of the heavens and paradises that believers normally hope for. Some even believe they would be spared and that only the non-believers would die."

Again, Durano shrugged as Denarri and the others listened with faint distaste and horror. "If these gods are indeed the Sinhindrea, then they deluded them. As far as I'm aware, their governments and most of their people are ignorant of these cults. We knew only because Laucine became overt in the last days of the Orieni War and much more so in the civil war after that. The Imperial Secret Service took decades to investigate. Many agents died to bring us this information."

Denarri nodded, trying to process the information. "And we are also fools for believing that we have no such cults of death. We believed that the Laucines all died, but this Lady Lanfir proves that we're wrong."

"Now House Laucine has announced its existence and power," Dromo said, "He pointed at the viewers showing some ships gathering into a group around Lady Lanfir's ship, the _Pazuzu_. "These House ships have declared for Lanfir. And the Sinhindrea will soon be finished with the Orieni."

Indeed, they could see the remainder of the Orieni fleet still fighting – and being slaughtered by the Sinhindrea. There were no more Rogolon ships left and only a couple Red Monk cruisers covered the defenses of the few remaining Orieni warships.

Denarri gritted his teeth. "Destroy them. Kill them all. But do it quickly before the traitors distract us too much."

_**The Albius:**_

Sela felt like laughing. Whether it was her people or aliens, people were always seriously flawed, and the Centauri were no different. It was either laugh or cry. Much as people preferred to think, the universe was not all black and white but the truth of it was that it was all shades of grey. She had heard it said that Romulans were predictably treacherous. Well, the same could be said of Centauri. Why, they even gave it a name! The Great Game, or the Game of Houses.

In the Imperial War College on Romulus, one of her instructors told the class that included Sela that it may help to understand mortal affairs by remembering that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history were caused not by people being fundamentally good or bad, but by people being fundamentally people. In other words, the battle between Good and Evil was first waged within the mortal heart by the decisions that people made. Most Romulans instinctively understood this whereas many races didn't which was a weakness that the Star Empire would eventually use to conquer the Federation and everyone else...

'…_If it survived'_ she thought soberly. The Borg had decimated Romulus, turned it into a mere shadow of what they were. _Voyager's_ details of the war at home had not been encouraging. But there was nothing she could do about that. Only mildly surprised, she realized that she truly hoped that the Federation would help them in the war.

But she did remember what her teacher's point.

"The problems of a heart in conflict with itself makes for good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat," he had drilled into them.

Sela would prefer all that agony and sweat be foisted off onto other people, not her. The universe was but shades of grey, except for the Sinhindrea, of course. They were a black as the universe and it was absolutely clearly they required extermination with all due prejudice. The consequences of letting them win included an orgy of death and extinction for an entire galaxy and beyond. While Sela might not have cared much about the locals, there was no way to go back home to Romulus – or what was left of it she reminded herself – and she was stuck here. Not for the first time, she cursed those aliens the locals called First Ones for their cowardice. If they had all stayed and pooled their powerful advanced fleets with the armed fleets of the local races, they'd had a chance to stop and destroy the Sinhindrea before they could spread too far. As it was, she and the locals had only themselves.

_How Romulan that was._

The good thing about this pause in battle was that the three surviving Firebird cruisers in Sela's squadron were able to fight again. The _Albius, Pontius_ and_ Lubato_ all had made quick repairs.

"Admiral, orders from the Regent. Destroy the Laucine ships and the Sinhindrea." The lieutenant paused as he read new orders on his computer screen. "Lord-General Marrago is ordering the Firebirds to take care of the Laucine ships. Most of the rest of the fleet will fight the enemy."

Sela nodded. That made sense. As the most advanced warships available in the Grand Fleet, they could make short work of the Laucines. Most of the other ships were either too exhausted or too equal with the cruisers hijacked by Lady Lanfir and her followers.

"Shields up. Arm disruptors. Load missile tubes. Lay in a direct course for the _Pazuzu_."

The Centauri bridge crew went about their tasks to follow Admiral Sela's orders.

The three Firebirds broke formation and turned to accelerate deep into the Grand Fleet, their sharp noses aimed directly at the grouping of House ships that had declared for Lady Lanfir. They bypassed other Centauri ships in the fleet which now began to advance toward the Sinhindrea once more. Several other House ships moved to join Sela's squadron to punish the Laucines.

Already, weapons fire was being exchanged between the Laucines and other House ships. On the main viewscreen, Sela could see the twin crescent moons of House Ardo, the red jewel and gold rays of House Mollari, the clenched white-gloved fist of House Varga, and the four white circling birds of House Orestes on the ships moving to oppose the Laucine ships.

Soon, plasma bolts splashed on the _Albius_' shields. They came from the nearest Laucine ship which was an _Aquila_-class destroyer. A disruptor beam lanced out in answer, spearing the _Aquila's_ engine section. A small antimatter missile followed it into the gash in the hull, ripping the destroyer apart with explosions.

That action apparently woke the Laucine ships to the threat posed by Sela's ships. They moved to intercept them even as the other House ships pounded them with their weapons. Four Laucine _Vorchans_ spat plasma bolts which splashed on _Vorchier_ shields. At the same time, the _Vorchans_ opened a panel on the underside of their head. Guided mines came out of the open panels and made their individual ways toward Sela's ships. However, before the mines could reach the Firebirds, disruptor beams expertly shot them down.

A swarm of missiles slammed into the Laucine _Vorchans_ amid a rain of plasma bolts and laser beams. Two of the _Vorchans_ died while the third's engines were destroyed, making it dead in the water. The fourth _Vorchan_ lost its port and dorsal wings but continued to fight.

"That was from the Mollari ships."

Sela nodded. The commanders of those ships would be generously rewarded for their part, especially since their House patriarch, Londo Mollari, had just been named Prime Minister by the Regent. While Sela's squadron passed through the debris, shields glowing as they shrugged off the fragments, she said, "Convey my thanks to the Mollari commanders."

A trio of missiles put the surviving Laucine-controlled _Vorchan_ out of action. Glowing hot fragments of it spun in the void as _Pontius_ passed by. _Lubato_ focused on removing Laucine fighters with disruptors on a reduced power setting.

Sela was satisfied. The Centauri crewmen of her squadron were now effectively using the new technology utilized for the Firebird Project. She had no doubt that they would pass on their expertise to other Centauri when more Firebirds roll off the shipyards, courtesy of the Royal Navy. This battle has confirmed the viability of the technology used in the project, so she also had no doubt that the Royal Court would order the Royal Navy to upgrade and refit as many of its current ships as possible.

If Centauri Prime and the Republic survived the Sinhindrea, the Royal Navy would become much more powerful than before despite the loss of so many ships in this battle. Neighboring worlds might be nervous about that due to the Republic's past history.

But that was for another time. For now, Sela needed to fight this battle and survive it. She pressed a button, activating a tactical screen. The Grand Fleet made contact with the Sinhindrea fleet with weapons fire again while the last Orieni ships fought bravely with their last breaths. Though the Sinhindrea fleet had been whittled down with heavy cost to the Centauri, they still posed a threat to Centauri Prime.

She needed to hurry with her mission of killing off the Laucines so she could go back to the battle and add the Firebirds' power to the Grand Fleet once more.

Finally, the _Primus_ cruiser _Pazuzu_ loomed large on the main viewscreen. Several _Aquila_ destroyers rushed in to block Sela's way, firing plasma bolts and missiles. Sela's squadron could not shoot them all down. _Albius_ shook hard under enemy fire.

"Shields down to seventy-eight percent. Repair crews are restoring the affected shield generators."

Sela grunted. Most of the missiles had been aimed at her own ship. Clearly, the Laucines recognized that killing her would decapitate the command structure of the squadron. She smirked. She was planning to do just exactly that to the Laucines.

Mollari and Ardo ships moved in to beat down the Laucine-controlled destroyers. With the addition of the Firebirds' disruptor fire, they were soon also pushed out of the way.

"Admiral! The Sinhindrea!"

Sela looked up sharply as the main viewscreen switched its view to the alien fleet.

The huge cyber-organic warships turned as one, ignoring the few straggling remainders of the Orieni fleet. As one, they opened fire into the Centauri fleet still arranged in front of the planet. The glowing sun-like balls of burning plasma trailed tails of dispersed plasma as they plowed into the main body of the Grand Fleet. Hulls melted as slag and debris spun away into the void, glowing with white-hot heat. Many ships lay shattered and dying. Sela winced. The plasma had ate away every trace of the ships, no bodies would ever be found.

"Energy spikes from all enemy ships!" said the sensor officer.

Sela knew that meant the Sinhindrea were preparing to fire simultaneously again. The rest of the Grand Fleet also registered the energy spikes and were moving their ships out of the way. Those that could not move out in time were moving to present the least damaged parts or to hide behind what little pieces of wreckage they could find.

The three transports hanging in the rear of the Sinhindrea fleet now sped up, each of them reminding her more of a tanker than anything else. It was as if two organic spheres were stuck together with thick pipes of the same material holding them. Two small singularities shone at the stern and two more were at the bow. Contained in an energy bubble, each of the tiny singularities shone brightly, their light blocked only by shell pieces hovering around them.

Sela wondered what the purpose of the bulbous vessels that the Sinhindrea had apparently kept back away from the main battle lines was. Now, even as the warships fired again as one, the transport shot forth, flanked by the burning plasma.

More Centauri ships fell to the plasma. Even the _Valerius_ itself was touched by the terrible Sinhindrea weapon. Its armor and hull was scorched black and a port wing literally melted off. The light in the flagship's windows flickered and died as the _Octurion_-class ship drifted away from the immolating fire.

The transports closed in with the Grand Fleet, their much smaller versions of the dreaded Sinhindrea weapons firing. Though much weaker than the capital ships, they were nevertheless as powerful as the Sinhindrea fighter analogs and kept the Centauri from getting too close to them. Strengthened shields easily absorbed Centauri fire. As soon as they were deep into the Centauri fleet, their singularities flashed brightly.

An omnidirectional energy wave emitted from each of the transports. It was initially bright enough to cause people to squint or look away. The wave struck Centauri vessels everywhere it went. Cruisers were pushed aside and disabled as if they were primitive vessels hit by an electromagnetic pulse while fighters spun out of control. Some which flew a little too close exploded on impact with the energy wave.

"What was that?" Sela wanted to know.

The sensor officer calibrated and studied the readings given by the Romulan-derived sensor suite. "It reads as a plasma wave augmented by some type of subspace technology."

The Sinhindrea warships fired in concert again. As the trailing balls of plasma burned their ways into the Grand Fleet to keep them preoccupied, the warships turned away from the Centauri as one. In doing so, they were also turning away from Centauri Prime. Meanwhile, the three bulbous vessels continued on their way toward the planet, taking potshots at the tattered remains of the Grand Fleet.

Sela felt a chill and that did not come from the damages that the _Albius_ and its life support system suffered even as it continued to dive at the _Pazuzu_ and the Laucine ships.

"Intercept those ships," Sela ordered as she pointed at the Sinhindrea transports.

The lieutenant manning the navigation controls paused. "What about the Regent's orders?"

"I have a feeling that if we don't stop the aliens, the Laucines and the Regent will not matter anymore. Do it!"

The lieutenant nodded. "Yes, Mistress."

Sela frowned. Even after all this time in battle, she still did not deserve a military title in her subordinates' eyes. That disrespect would be dealt with later. She looked up as the main view screen focused on the three cyber-organic transports diving directly for Centauri Prime.

What were those vessels? What were they carrying?

What were they going to do to Centauri Prime?

_**Valerius**_

Marrago breathed heavily as he climbed up from the deck. He gasped in shocked pain as he set a hand down to push himself up. He looked down to see what the matter was and saw that his right arm did not line up at the elbow. Broken or dislocated. Cradling his arm, he huffed his way back into the command chair. It was dark in the bridge. The only light available came from the windows, coming irregularly as the bloom of explosions came and went. Once in a while, sparks would illuminate a damaged console for only a moment. He could not feel the hum of engines vibrating in the deck anymore.

It was completely silent. Except for the groans and muffled gasps from unseen crewmen.

At least the artificial gravity was still there. That meant the gravity stingray tail of the _Valerius_, which had the same function as the Minbari gravity fins, was still intact

His left hand rose up to touch his forehead. He found that his hair crest was in severe disarray. He grunted dismissively. That did not matter. After all, he wasn't in the Royal Court at the moment.

Mercifully, the bridge lights flickered back on. The deck began to hum from the engines being reactivated.

Marrago was proud. His crew was being efficient, just as he had always demanded of them despite unmeritorious appointments from the nobility. He looked around and saw that over half of his bridge crew lay dead or unconscious.

The battle-screens reactivated and displayed the image of the three bulbous Sinhindrea vessels rushing through the hole they made through the Grand Fleet. The ships that were disabled by the plasma wave still had not recovered. Marrago surmised that the fact that the _Valerius_ was disabled before the wave hit was what saved the flagship from the debilitating effects of the omnidirectional weapon.

Other screens showed the Sinhindrea warships turning away from Centauri Prime and accelerating away. A haze appeared to form in normal space in front of the retreating Sinhindrea fleet. The haze became a distortion not unlike an indistinct bubble, its edges becoming a halo of bright light as hyperspace collided with normal space. The Sinhindrea dove into the distortion. As soon as the last ship oozed into it, the haze faded away, leaving nothing behind to hint at their previous presence except for the ruins of their vessels that were destroyed in the battle.

And those three transports making for Centauri Prime.

Marrago grunted. He stepped down from his command chair and limped over to the navigation controls. He gently nudged the dead pilot out of his way, letting the body slump heavily to the deck. He tapped a command into the console and grabbed the piloting joystick. He gripped it and tilted it.

In the windows, the scene of battle swung around until the three transports were squarely in the center. Marrago switched to a small lever and pushed it forward. The engines hummed louder and thrusters burned more brightly as the _Valerius_ accelerated.

The surviving and conscious bridge crewmen glanced at each other and looked at their lord-general. Marrago nodded to confirm their unspoken suspicion. Wincing, he raised his dislocated right arm and made a signal with painfully gesturing fingers. Crewmen nodded.

All of the cannons on the flagship spat fire while all the remaining missiles in their tubes launched forth. They hammered the shields of one of the Sinhindrea transports.

Plasma, laser and ion fire appeared and pounded at the shields of all the transports. It would seem that at least some of the Centauri ships had recovered from the plasma wave and were turning their attention to the clear and present danger looming toward Centauri Prime.

The fire increased as more ships recovered. The fire intensified as the planetary satellite defense grid gave its full attention. The Sinhindrea shields continued to glow but they did not fail. With four singularities on each transport to feed the power necessary, the shields could stand up to the punishing fire despite the small size of the power matrices.

Green disruptor beams finally made their appearances and speared into the Sinhindrea shields. Missile with antimatter warheads slammed into them causing great explosions. Marrago dipped his head but did not take his eyes off the targets. Admiral Sela was proving herself well.

A thought occurred to Marrago. He risked taking his sole functional hand off of the joystick and typed in a message and sent it to the _Albius_. He hoped that Sela would understand.

She had.

The disruptors and torpedoes narrowed their focus onto one point of the shields of the lead Sinhindrea transport. The overwhelming power of the Firebirds forced the transport to re-align its shields and to pull power away from the opposite side of the shield bubble. A small area of the shield bubble on that side appeared to be glowing less intensely than before. It wasn't a hole, but it was what Marrago needed.

"Gentlemen," he said, "it has been a pleasure and an honor to serve with you. Whatever happens from this moment on, I shall pray the gods to bear witness that we met our fate like brave men. For we are Centauri, and we are not afraid." He bowed his head in grateful respect. "For our world!"

"For our world!" replied the bridge crew.

The _Valerius_ continued to rush at the transport. The missing port wing did not detract from the _Octurion_-class battleship's appearance.

Meanwhile, the Firebirds intensified their fire at the strengthened side of the transport's shields. Other ships in the Grand Fleet added their fire to the same spot, further weakening the spot that the _Valerius_ aimed for. At the last moment, the _Valerius_ fired all guns at that weakened area. Before power could be returned to that part of the shields, the flagship of the Centauri Grand Fleet smashed into it.

The force brought to bear by the battleship's tonnage and its firing weapons was enough for it to tear its way through the shields. However, the stronger parts of the shields surrounding the weak spot tore the ship apart while the central parts continued their way into the transport. They happened to impact one of the four small corner singularities. The singularity's hovering shell pieces shattered and the spherical containment failed.

Pieces of the Centauri battleships burned and melted as they fell into the naked singularity just before the singularity dimmed drastically as it imploded. It almost immediately brightened blindingly as it exploded like a tiny nova, swallowing up the remains of the _Valerius_ and the transport. The transport's shields collapsed as its other three shining power matrices imploded and detonated, ripping the transport to shreds and swallowing up the debris in shockwaves.

_**The Pazuzu:**_

Lady Lanfir, the Devoted One and Matriarch of House Laucine, had her arms wide as she basked in the burning light of the transport's death, for it was a harbinger of the blissful equality that death would bring to everyone and everything in the universe. However, a part of her regretted that Jorah Marrago, Lord-General of the Grand Centauri Military, hero of the Narn-Centauri War and the last of his House had not the chance to accept the True Gods into his thoughts. If he had, his death would have heralded him into the idyllic wonders of the Nameless City in the Realm Beyond.

As it is, Marrago's soul was now lost to the ether or to whichever false god he worshipped. Perhaps it was that great whore, Li or Kolee, as she was a favorite of the decadent aristocracy. Or, it was Tuscano for his mythologized military prowess against the Xon and the Shoggren. Like the woman Li, Emperor Tuscano was only a mortal raised to godhood.

False gods, all.

The Centauri believed that each of the sixty gods in their false pantheon had his/her own dominion over a given world of the afterlife. By sufficiently appeasing one's patron god during mortal life, that god or goddess would accept the follower into that afterlife in preparation for the time when all the heavens would unite into one. Those who failed to appease the patron deity sufficiently had to be reborn and choose a different deity in the pantheon, repeating the process until they are finally accepted.

Lanfir mentally shook her head at how far the Centauri had been led astray from the truth that equality in death is everything. Lords and slaves stood equal in the eyes of the True Gods. All shall learn the truth in time. The Laucines and others like them had been patient for centuries or millennia. Though they were very few and far in between, the Sinhindrea would herald everything to equal death.

Soft whispers chittered in the back of Lanfir's mind. It was those whispers that convinced her to announce the existence of House Laucine to everyone who would listen. Death was coming for everyone and everything. The darkness that would erase all inequalities will swallow the dawn.

It was soon after that that she felt the call. The Sinhindrea Lords of Power had issued a telepathic summons powerful enough to span half the galaxy, a summons attuned only to those who were receptive to it such as the True Gods. It called them to abandon all actions and secure the Prime World.

Only a very few who were attuned to the True Gods could sense the call. Of these only a couple could survive the insanity-inducing and mind-shattering crush of the power behind the telepathic calling. Even Lanfir barely survived as she screamed and fell prone at the agonizing ecstasy.

When that happened, Lanfir despaired of the Truth's revelation to the Centauri people. The Republic was an obstacle that needed to be cast down along with the idols in their temples. But the True Gods saw fit to send three transports ahead to Centauri Prime, so there was still a chance for the revelation to come. A chance for everyone to know the devouring power of the Sinhindrea and the excruciating bliss of feeding the True Gods.

As the fires of the Sinhindrea transport's destruction faded away, another woman dressed all in red appeared at Lanfir's side.

"Devoted one," she said.

"Isendre, my daughter," Lanfir said in greeting. She gestured toward the view of the two surviving Sinhindrea transports still falling toward Centauri Prime. "Observe how they resist the inevitable."

On the main viewer, they saw how the recovering remnants of the shattered Grand Fleet continue to hammer at the two transports' shields. Sela's three _Vorchier_ Firebirds still pounded away with disruptor beams and torpedoes. Their comparatively weak shields flared at where the transports' plasma fireballs splashed at them.

Now they were in the planet's upper atmosphere. The shields on both the Sinhindrea vessels and the Firebirds glowed with atmospheric friction. Laser, ion and plasma bolts continued to rain from the Centauri ships above the atmosphere.

Two of the Firebirds decided to increase speed. Now their hulls began to glow at the sharp nose and the front of the four fins despite the protective shielding. Clouds rushed past them all.

* * *

Below on the planet, people looked up and could see what appeared to be several shooting stars burning in the brightening morning sky. One of them was Timov, wife of Londo Mollari. She slowly stepped out from the shade of the great estate's courtyard colonnade. The estate was isolated in the countryside and almost entirely empty of servants who had long ago fled. Timov gripped her gauzy red veil and muttered prayers under her breath to all the gods that would listen.

Another was Lady Drusella, aunt to Lyndisty and sister to the late Jorah Marrago. She glanced in terror at the incoming storm, thinking dark thoughts about living through the hell that would come if the Sinhindrea landed successfully on Centauri Prime.

* * *

In one of the fortified palaces of the capital city, Lady Celes Refa, widow of Lord Antono Refa sat in a large canopied bed, soft luxuriant blankets up to her chin. Almost hidden by the blankets, her young daughter, Senna, sobbed into her shoulder and gripped her neck hard. Normally, Celes would chastise the pre-teenaged girl for such an open display of emotion unbecoming of a noble lady of House Refa. For this once, Celes forgave it for she understood it and felt like crying as well but she held back her own tears of terror. She kissed Senna's forehead and waited.

* * *

On a bank of an artificial rive, the Earth Alliance Embassy stood barricaded and guarded by elite Earthforce guards. Its location on the Kironeth River was a great honor since it flowed through the Royal Palace complex. In a reinforced bunker beneath the embassy, Ambassador Cheryl Roman sat in the dark and wondered if she would ever survive this battle.

* * *

In one of the magnificent domed temples in the city, Lord Andilo Mollari did not pay any attention to the crush of the crowds around him on the colonnaded balcony around the temple's main nave. The crush of the commoners on the floor below had to be much worse. Lords, ladies and commoners alike sobbed. Incense smoke wafted from the altars barricaded against the crowd to caress the faces of the tall serene statues of the gods. Temple bells tolled as priests spotted the falling Sinhindrea transports. Along with everyone else, Lord Andilo raised his arms toward the abstract designs in the stained glass rose window above the main altar, beseeching the Great Maker that the window represented for salvation.

* * *

Regent Denarri anxiously watched one of the viewers in the underground war-room showing the two falling bulbous transports burning through the sky. Their singularities shone brighter than the glow of atmospheric friction on their shields. Knonto Denarri mentally urged Sela, the Firebirds, the tattered remnants of the Grand Fleet, the gods, anything to stop the transports and destroy whatever dreadful cargo they carried.

The thrusters on the back of the two Firebirds closing upon the transports suddenly brightened and the advanced cruisers drastically dove much faster and smashed into the two transports. The transports' shields failed as they bore the brunt of the two Firebirds. But they were not as weakened as the transport that Marrago destroyed so the cruisers shattered explosively, killing all onboard. Yet, that was enough to damage and buckle the transports' cyber-organic hull. The transports also lost control and veered wildly away from each other. The singularities within their power matrix containments flared and flickered like flare stars but the containment fields held.

One of the transports splashed into the sea near the island of Selini, the whole of which was property of the Imperial Summer Palace. It began to sank, the water bubbling around it and steaming where the power matrices touched it. The other transport weaved in a wild course over the ocean. Soon, it was low enough to create a wide foaming backwash in the ocean water. Finally, it made contact with the water and hopped over it like a skipping stone. It splashed down into the water and quickly sank. The water bubbled and steamed around it and over its stern as it sank beneath the waves.

* * *

On the _Pazuzu_, Lanfir saw all this on the viewers. She smiled. "See, Isendre? The Truth is inevitable."

"Yes, devoted one," agreed Isendre.

"Those two transports will plant the seeds for our people's liberation from their false conceptions and from their corrupt flesh."

"And us?"

"We…shall do what we shall do. We must leave before the so-called Grand Fleet remember that we are still here." Lanfir nodded to one of the bridge officers. She raised her lacey shawl on her head forward and folded it so it became a travel hood. The _Pazuzu_ and her attendant ships turned as one. A jump-point opened and the several surviving Laucine _Vorchans_ and _Aquilas_ dove into hyperspace ahead of the _Primus_-class cruiser.

Lanfir said, "Everyone in the Republic, no, everyone in the _galaxy_ should look to their sins for the revelation is coming."

Lanfir and Isendre shared a smile.

Just as plasma bolts began to fly from the tattered remnants of the Grand Fleet, the _Pazuzu_ jumped into hyperspace, pulling the jump-point close behind it.

_**Imperial City, Centauri Prime**_

Cheers reverberated throughout the underground war-room. Denarri slumped in a chair and held a crystal goblet of brivari. He was finally allowing himself to smile. The Yonji Sinhindrea had retreated and their deadly transports shot down. But at such a heavy cost. Fire, death, pain and destruction. And in the back of the regent's mind he wondered why the enemy warships had fled leaving the transports to their own devices? Surely destruction of those transports hadn't be the goal of this entire battle.

Virini was positively giddy with wide eyes and an open smile full of teeth. Durano, Dromo and Tavastani were congratulating each other with handshakes and pats on the shoulders. The news agencies across the planet and the star system would be by now reporting on the Centauri victory over the Sinhindrea. Denarri knew that the cheers filling the war-room were likewise taken up by the people in the streets, the temples, the villas and the palaces all across Centauri Prime. Soon, the news would reach the colonies.

The viceroy of the Immolan System would soon personally call Denarri to congratulate the Regent for the victory and express relief at keeping the capital of the Republic on Centauri Prime rather than being forced to move it to Immolan Five.

Not one of them would harp on about the terrible costs in lives and ships this battle had incurred. Oh, there would be the families of the dead. Funeral parties would crop up everywhere as part and parcel of the Thanksgiving Celebration of Life that was sure to come far ahead of schedule.

It wasn't a victory, not really. It was all a fiction to comfort the people. The Sinhindrea had for some reason merely withdrawn and left the system. They left behind those transports that were shot down. Denarri knew that if the Sinhindrea had stayed, they'd succeed in breaking the Grand Fleet and assaulting the home world. In fact, while sending forth the transports, they were in the process of breaking the fleet.

For now, Denarri would allow the people their much-needed delusions of victory.

A lieutenant sidled up to Denarri and bent to whisper in his ear. The regent stood up and went to a small viewer off to the side. No one noticed him or his barely suppressed expression of worry.

In the viewer's screen, Admiral Sela had her chin thrust up in determination.

"_Regent Denarri, I am sorry for the loss of Lord-General Jorah Marrago."_

Denarri hid a wince. Fire, death, pain and destruction, just as Lady Ladira predicted. "Admiral Sela," said Denarri before she could say anything else. "I shall personally reward you and bestow on you the rank of Admiral in the Centauri Royal Navy, answerable only to me, the new Prime Minister and the Grand Admiral."

Sela looked grim, afar more than the improving situation called for. "_Thank you, Excellency but celebrations and rewards may be premature. My sensors are showing the transports to be dissolving underwater. Whatever they were carrying, it's being released into the ocean and the shields are still active."_

Denarri had to put his hands on the console to keep his knees from buckling.

It had been too easy. It wasn't over. Far from it.

"Target nuclear weapons on the impact zone," he ordered quickly, shocking those in the room with him.

"But regency, there are people and island in the entire…"

Do it!" he screamed, 'while there's still time!"


End file.
